Austrian Kilian Albrecht has become a Bulgarian citizen. The 33-year-old alpine skier was given his new passport on December 12.

On the next day he departed for Vienna and later for Innsbruck, where he will continue his training. On December 17 and 18, he will debut for Bulgaria in the World Cup Giant Slalom in Alta Badia, Italy.

“I am quite happy that I will represent Bulgaria. I feel well prepared and I hope to demonstrate my best qualities on December 18,” said Albrecht. “My starting number won’t allow me to finish among the first 30 skiers. But I hope to go up step by step till I finally gain my first World Cup victory for Bulgaria”.

The Austrian's new citizenship is considered as a great success for Bulgarian skiing. Albrecht was born on April 13 1973 in Bregentzervald, Austria. He is 181cm tall and has loved skiing since he was three years old. He has 103 starts in World Cup slalom competitions and combination alpine skiing. His greatest score is 28th place in 2001 during the Big Crystal Globus tournament. The same year he was eighth in slalom and fourth in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.

The Bulgarian biathlon team was first to accept a foreigner on a national team.  Ukrainian Alexander Zarovni was the first to compete for Bulgaria but he didn’t achieve any great records. His compatriot Vitalij Rudenchik is competing for his second country. He is the best biathlonist so far in the World Cup starts. He finished 21st in the 10km at the Winter Olympic Games in Torino 2006.

Stefka Komsalov is a strange issue in Bulgarian women biathlon. She was born in Germany but her father is Bulgarian. She took Bulgarian nationality but now is out of the team.