Bulgarian snowboarder Tervel Zamfirov said on Tuesday that his main targets for the upcoming season will be the FIS Snowboard, Freestyle & Freeski World Championships 2027 in Montafon, Austria, in March and the two World Cup races in the Bulgarian ski resort of Bansko in mid-January. Zamfirov was speaking at the signing of a partnership agreement between the Bulgarian Ski Federation and payment services company Visa, which is also his personal sponsor.
“I believe this is an opportunity not only for me but also for many other young athletes who are just beginning their journey in professional sport. This is a huge success and a great privilege for the federation. I believe we have a very bright future ahead of us with Visa, and the very fact that they have placed their trust in us as a federation and in me personally is an enormous honour and pleasure,” Zamfirov told BTA.
“I am prepared for the new season, but you can never be fully ready. The World Cup is a competition where the margins are extremely small, and you cannot be the best every single time. However, we strive to prepare in the right way. The summer went well. We had some time to unwind and followed our usual preparation routine, and now we are about to begin our intensive training on snow. We will be aiming for good results in the World Cup races,” he said.
Zamfirov said that, as in the previous year, he will skip the World Cup races in China and join the competition in December at Cortina d’Ampezzo. He added that he and his team will leave the following day for a two-week training camp in Hintertux, Austria, where his sister Malena will also take part. Malena is recovering after a serious accident on a ski slope in the Czechia, while preparing for the World Cup 2026.
He explained that they will see how she feels on snow, as although she is performing excellently in all physical tests, training on snow and snowboarding are entirely different. According to him, they need to establish whether she experienced any pain in order to determine how to proceed with her recovery and training.
Zamfirov said it is possible that Malena can return to competition as early as this season and that they are working towards that goal, although her injury had been extremely severe and doctors had initially estimated a two-year recovery period. He said that if she manages to return to the World Cup circuit this season, she will be a hero. However, as she still has implants in her body, it is impossible to predict when or how she will return.
“The World Championships and the World Cup races in Bansko are definitely the two competitions where I want to perform at my best. That does not mean I will neglect the other World Cup events, but everyone has their favourite venues,” Zamfirov said.
Asked whether he might one day compete at another major sporting event outside winter sports, given that he also practises other sports in his spare time, Zamfirov said: “Competing at the Olympic Games is no joke, although after the Winter Olympics, the most frequently asked question on ChatGPT was what sport should I take up to qualify for the next Olympic Games. Apparently, people think this is something easy, accessible and achievable. Qualifying for the Olympics is proof of an exceptionally high level of sporting excellence, and competing at both the Summer and Winter Olympics is extremely difficult. Unfortunately, there is no sport at the Summer Olympics that is similar enough to snowboarding for me to transfer my skills easily. But nothing is impossible. For now, I have neither considered nor worked towards that goal. I am trying to develop both as an athlete and as a veterinary medicine student. My biggest dream is to become a doctor while continuing to compete actively on the World Cup circuit. If one day I have more free time and am no longer a student, I might start training for a summer sport, but for now the idea is entirely a joke”.

Snowboarder Tervel Zamfirov Names World Championships, Bansko World Cup as Season Priorities THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-11-03 05:35:00

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BULGARIA NEWS – NEWS AGENCY 2009–2026 2026-11-03 05:35:00