Grand Success for Albert Popov – Victory in the Ski World Cup!

Published on 09 January 2025

Albert Popov achieved an extraordinary success! The star of Bulgarian alpine skiing won the night slalom in Madonna di Campiglio (Italy) as part of the Ski World Cup, marking the greatest achievement of his career. Until now, his peak performance was third place in the American resort of Palisades Tahoe in 2023.

Popov recently successfully passed his state exam at NSA "Vasil Levski," and nearly his entire sports-technical team consists of specialists who graduated from the Sports Academy – his personal coach Ivo Borisov, as well as Velimir Mashkarov and Atanas Angelov.

Albert's victory is only the second for Bulgaria at the highest level of skiing, the FIS World Cup. Exactly 45 years ago, on the same date (January 8), Petar Popangelov triumphed in the slalom at the Bavarian resort of Lenggries.

In the first run, Popov showed great form, finishing with the eighth-best time. In the second run, he was brilliant, not only achieving the fastest time in it but also recording the fastest overall time – 1:45.22 min. Equally impressive was his lead of 44 hundredths over his runner-up on the podium, Loïc Meillard from Switzerland.

“Kaya, this is for you!” Popov exclaimed, dedicating his success to his young daughter, in front of the TV camera after his victorious finish, when it became clear that he had won the race. “My first words on the slope were: ‘I’ve been waiting for this victory for a long time. I love the course here, thank you for supporting me. I wanted to be in top form in January.’” His first interview after the triumph was conducted by Patrick Lang – the son of World Cup founder Serge Lang, who also authored the article about Petar Popangelov’s first Bulgarian victory in 1980 in the USA.

Later, Albert spoke at length to the Bulgarian Ski Federation: “Thank you to everyone. I recorded my first World Cup victory, and I am extremely satisfied, proud, and happy. I owe this success to my family, my entire team, my sponsors, the federation, and everyone who has helped me over the years and continues to support me. Together, we succeeded and reached the highest peak. I had two fantastic runs. In the second one, I risked everything and was lucky not to make a single mistake. I’ve been in skiing for a long time, worked hard, and always knew I had the potential to become first. I never stopped believing. I’ve always strived to be number 1. That kept me motivated, and I finally delivered results. The second run was an all-or-nothing effort. I had to take big risks, and I did. I executed all transitions perfectly, didn’t slow down anywhere, and that proved decisive for the victory. At first, I didn’t realize what was happening. One moment I was on the podium, and the next, I believed I was the winner. I’m glad I achieved victory in the first race of the year. I hope January continues like this; there’s also the World Championship in Saalbach this year. I wish to stay healthy and in form and, as we say in Bulgarian – keep crushing it.”

With his success, Albert Popov is now seventh in the overall slalom standings with 153 points.

Photos: NSA and Bulgarian Ski Federation