In one of the Olympic short track races, the athlete who was last unexpectedly won VIDEO
Kazakh athlete Abzal Azhgaliyev advanced to the quarter-finals in a very unusual way in the 500‑meter short track event at the 2026 Games.
Azhgaliyev was in last place for almost the entire race and seemed to have no chance of success. However, just before the finish, the situation suddenly changed: Latvian Reinis Bērziņš and Turk Furkan Akar fell, and the titled Italian Pietro Sighel lost his balance and actually crossed the finish line backward.
As a result, the photo finish showed that Azhgaliyev was the first to cross the line. Thus, the athlete who had been at the back of the group for a long time unexpectedly became the winner of the race.
It must be said that similar pile-ups are not uncommon in short track. In 2002, in Salt Lake City, USA, Australian Steven Bradbury even won Olympic gold under similar circumstances.
Back then, Bradbury was an outsider in the final race, trailing the leaders by 15‑20 meters. However, on the last turn of the final lap, all four competitors (American Apolo Anton Ohno, Korean Ahn Hyun-soo, Chinese Li Jiajun, and Canadian Mathieu Turcotte) collided with each other and fell. Bradbury, who was riding far behind, calmly bypassed the pile-up and was the first to cross the finish line.
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