After winning the Asian Time Trial Championships last February and coming back to win the national title in Kazakhstan, Rinata Sultanova has added another prestigious victory to her season. The UAE Development Team rider won today’s individual time trial at the Asian Games – Aichi-Nagoya 2026, once again confirming her position at the top of the discipline in Asia.
The race took place this morning in Shinshiro, Japan, over a 24.4-kilometre course. Racing in the colours of the Kazakhstan national team, Sultanova stopped the clock at 36:23, recording an average speed of 40.225 km/h.
A strong performance on her Colnago earned Sultanova a historic gold medal for both herself and her country.
The Kazakh rider finished just four seconds ahead of China’s Hao Zhang, who took the silver medal, while South Korea’s Jieun Shin claimed bronze, 32 seconds behind the winner.
For Rinata Sultanova, this is her fifth victory of the season.
Her UAE Development Team teammate Safiya Alsayegh also competed at the Asian Games, representing the United Arab Emirates national team and finishing 12th.
After the race, Rinata Sultanova said: “I am very happy to have won the gold medal! This was my biggest goal of the year, and I am really happy that I managed to achieve it. I want to thank everyone who supported me and everyone whose hard work helped make this success possible.”
(ph. Vladislav Semyonov)
