Kazakhstan’s athletes at the 2026 Asian Games: strong results and support for Yasmina Toxanbayeva
Kazakhstan’s track and field athletes delivered a series of strong performances at Aichi-Nagoya 2026. TravelSport congratulates the medallists and the entire national team — and continues to stand with Yasmina Toxanbayeva.
Kazakhstan’s athletes delivered strong performances across the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games athletics programme. Kristina Morozova, Norah Jeruto, Adelina Zems, Kristina Ovchinnikova, Alina Chistyakova and Polina Ivanova reached the podium in their events. This story also has another name that cannot be left outside the final recap: Yasmina Toxanbayeva.
Kazakhstan on the podium across a range of events
Kazakhstan’s athletes reached the podium in race walking, distance running, hurdles, combined events and the vertical jumps. Their performances showed the breadth of disciplines in which the national team competed at the highest level.
TravelSport congratulates the medallists and everyone who helped them arrive in Aichi-Nagoya ready to compete.
Kristina Morozova and Norah Jeruto: silver on the road and track
Kristina Morozova opened Kazakhstan’s athletics medal count with silver in the women’s half-marathon race walk. Her time of 1:35:25 was also a new Kazakhstan record for the distance.
Norah Jeruto then took silver in the women’s 3000 metres steeplechase. She finished in 9:06.82 behind Olympic champion Winfred Yavi and ahead of India’s Parul Chaudhary.
- Women’s half-marathon race walk: 1. Yang Liujing, China — 1:33:40; 2. Kristina Morozova, Kazakhstan — 1:35:25; 3. Jiang Yunyan, China — 1:35:26
- Women’s 3000 m steeplechase: 1. Winfred Yavi, Bahrain — 9:04.36; 2. Norah Jeruto, Kazakhstan — 9:06.82; 3. Parul Chaudhary, India — 9:08.67
Adelina Zems and Kristina Ovchinnikova: two more silver medals
Adelina Zems ran a personal best of 54.58 seconds in the women’s 400 metres hurdles and finished only 0.27 seconds behind Mariam Karim, who set an Asian Games record.
Kristina Ovchinnikova cleared 1.87 metres to take silver in the women’s high jump after a difficult period marked by injury. She dedicated the medal to Kazakhstan, her family, coaches and everyone who supported her return to the major-event podium.
- Women’s 400 m hurdles: 1. Mariam Karim, United Arab Emirates — 54.31 (Asian Games record); 2. Adelina Zems, Kazakhstan — 54.58 (personal best); 3. Vithya Ramraj, India — 54.75 (personal best)
- Women’s high jump: 1. Barnokhon Sayfullaeva, Uzbekistan — 1.90 m; 2. Kristina Ovchinnikova, Kazakhstan — 1.87 m; 3. Pooja, India — 1.84 m
Alina Chistyakova and Polina Ivanova: two bronze medals
Alina Chistyakova scored 5,568 points across the seven heptathlon events and finished third behind Japan’s Yūri Tanaka and Nanaka Kajiki. One stage of Alina’s preparation took place at Gloria Sports Arena in April 2026 during a training camp supported by TravelSport.
Polina Ivanova cleared 4.15 metres in the women’s pole vault. She shared third place with India’s Baranica Elangovan after the two athletes could not be separated on countback.
- Women’s heptathlon: 1. Yūri Tanaka, Japan — 5,920 points; 2. Nanaka Kajiki, Japan — 5,673; 3. Alina Chistyakova, Kazakhstan — 5,568
- Women’s pole vault: 1. Misaki Morota, Japan — 4.55 m; 2. Niu Chunge, China — 4.50 m; 3. Polina Ivanova, Kazakhstan, and Baranica Elangovan, India — 4.15 m
Yasmina Toxanbayeva: for us, she still won
Yasmina Toxanbayeva crossed the finish line first in the women’s marathon race walk in 3:22:20, three minutes and 49 seconds ahead of the next finisher. Her result was later annulled following a footwear protest, and the official record lists a disqualification.
We do not conceal the official decision. But our position remains unchanged: TravelSport stands with Yasmina. She prepared for the start, covered 42.195 kilometres and was the first athlete across the line. For us, she won that race.
Qazaq Athletics filed a complaint and a protest and announced that Yasmina would receive every payment due to a champion from the Federation’s own funds regardless of the outcome. TravelSport respects and supports this principled decision to stand behind the athlete with concrete action.
Congratulations to Kazakhstan and the entire national-team family
TravelSport congratulates Kristina Morozova, Norah Jeruto, Adelina Zems, Kristina Ovchinnikova, Alina Chistyakova and Polina Ivanova on their Asian Games medals.
We also congratulate Qazaq Athletics, the personal coaches and national-team coaching staff, medical and recovery specialists, the delegation, families and everyone whose daily work stands behind these performances.
And once again: TravelSport stands with Yasmina Toxanbayeva. An official result may be changed, but the distance she covered and the fact that she crossed the line first cannot be erased.