TIRANA, Feb. 6, 2022 – Albania’s sole athlete competing at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics has ended his competition in Alpine Skiing with the 28th spot out of 88 skiers in the Men’s Slalom race,
Born and raised in Italy to Albanian parents, 18-year-old Denni Xhepa also recorded a time that was best in the race for under 21s.
Xhepa’s first race earlier this week in Men’s Giant Slalom ended without being able to be completed due to bad weather at the location in northern China, which left many other skiers unable to finish their run.
The International Ski Federation (FIS) approved Xhepa to compete for Albania in June 2021. He is part of a larger group of Italian-born Albanians that show promising futures in skiing.
Albania lacks the right infrastructure for winter sports olympians to properly train at home and has to rely on having them train abroad.
Albania was one of a handful of countries – mostly from hot climates – that sent a single representative to the Winter Olympics.
