TIRANA, March 14/ATA/ Albania wins first gold medals at the Special Olympics World Winter Games 2025 taking place in Turin, Italy.

Minister of Education and Sports Ogerta Manastirliu wrote in a post in the social media that, “In its debut in this prestigious competition, the Albanian Special Olympics Team has excelled with the performance of our athletes with special abilities, winning two gold medals: Elizon Kacanja in Alpine Skiing and Stela Salla in Cross Country Skiing; a Silver medal Elizon Kacanja in Giant Slalom and two bronze medals Joanis Myrtollaris in Alpine Skiing and Joel Gërmenji in Snowshoeing (50m)”.

“This is an extraordinary achievement of our special athletes”, said Manastirliu. In this multi-sport event, Albania is being represented by 6 athletes with intellectual disabilities in 3 winter sports disciplines for the first time in the history of Albanian sports,.