Kazakhstan’s Asian Games gold annulled over Kazakh athlete’s shoe model

Photo: Arlan Olzhabay

Tengrinews.kz – The victory of Kazakh track and field athlete Yasmina Toksanbayeva in the 42.195-kilometer race walking marathon at the 2026 Asian Games in Japan was annulled following a protest from her rivals. The athlete herself announced this on her Instagram page.

The Kazakh athlete admitted that she had very much wanted to bring gold to her country, apologized for being overly emotional and thanked everyone who supported her. She said she fought until the end and called what happened a heavy blow for her.

Toksanbayeva finished first with a result of 3 hours, 22 minutes and 20 seconds and was supposed to bring the national team its ninth gold medal.

However, after the race, a protest was filed against the Kazakh athlete’s result. The protocol showed the mark “Protested” next to her result. As it turned out, her rivals challenged whether her ASICS shoe model complied with the official World Athletics list of approved footwear.

Earlier on social media, Toksanbayeva promised that even if her gold medal was taken away, she would come back and win it again.