Elizaveta Hlusovici and Iulian Luchin will carry the flag of the Republic of Moldova at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games, which will take place on February 6, at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, reports IPN.
Both Elizaveta Hlusovici, aged 18, and Iulian Luchin, 21 years old, are participating for the first time in a Winter Olympics edition. Both athletes will compete in cross-country skiing events, being trained by Nadejda Bria and Nicolae Gaiduc.
The cross-country skiing races will take place at the stadium in Tesero, located in the Val di Fiemme region, which first hosted the Nordic Ski World Championships in 1991.
From the team of the Republic of Moldova, Alina Stremous, Pavel Magazeev, and Maksim Makarov also participate in the biathlon events. For them, this is a second consecutive appearance at the Winter Olympic Games. The three athletes are trained by Sveatoslav Maliutin, Nikolai Dundukov, and Serghei Iakor.
The biathlon competitions will take place at the Anterselva Arena, located in the Italian Alps, near the border with Austria, at an altitude of 1,600 meters.
Moldovan athletes made their debut at the Winter Olympic Games in 1994, in Lillehammer. Since then, Moldova has participated in seven editions of the competition, in biathlon events, with the exception of the PyeongChang 2018 edition. The best results were achieved by Natalia Levcenkova, who ranked 8th in the 15 km individual event in 2006, and by Alina Stremous, who took 10th place in the 7.5 km sprint event in 2022.
The Winter Olympic Games 2026 will conclude on February 22, 2026.
