This week, paragliders are filling the skies above Kazakhstan's Zhetysu region. Located in the southwest of the country, the area is considered one of top flying destinations and is gaining international recognition since paragliding in Kazakhstan is no longer just a tourist activity.
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This summer, the country is hosting the first Paragliding World Cup in Central Asia, bringing together around 150 pilots from 33 countries.
Behind the prestigious event is the Virshki family, who have spent more than 15 years helping develop paragliding in Kazakhstan and promoting extreme sports in the country.
Igor Virshki founded the Tau Zhetysu tourism complex near the city of Tekeli. Over the years, the site has become one of Kazakhstan’s best-known paragliding locations, regularly attracting pilots from around the world.
Today, his son David Virshki is a paraglider world champion. He says it is a great honour to welcome the Paragliding World Cup to the place where his own flying journey began.
“It was always my dream to have such event in my local site because I was born here and I learned to fly here," David Virshki said. "We found out that it's also very interesting and prospective site for competitions as well.
“World Cup for cross country is a very prestige event to have because there are some criterias which special paragliding commission is selecting events and we are very proud that we are holding such event here in our local site.”
A new take-off for paragliding in Kazakhstan
Preparations for the World Cup began last year. Before a site can host a competition of this level, it must be assessed by international experts who evaluate flying conditions, safety standards, infrastructure and organisational capacity.
“I’ve been doing this for 30 years and have worked in many places around the world, so I can say it is not easy to find new destinations and places that are good enough, with enough potential in any sense. Sportive potential, economical potential, organising capacities,” said Goran Dimishkovski, President of the Paragliding World Cup Association.
“So, in Kazakhstan now we are trying to establish a base, a new place that will serve in the future for big international competitions.”
What makes Kazakhstan attractive for pilots
Among the pilots who now regularly fly in Zhetysu is Jimmy Giroux from Canada. He says his first visits to the region coincided with a difficult period in his life after a serious accident.
“I trained in Europe and I broke my back, but I didn’t realise it at first," said Giroux. "I flew here to Kazakhstan and it took me two days to fly because of the distance and when I arrived, I couldn’t move my leg. Then surgeon from Taldykorgan city saved my life. His name is Almaz.”
Today, he sees Kazakhstan not only as a competition site, but as a place that helped him recover and return to the sport he loves. He also says Kazakhstan has strong, still untapped potential in paragliding.
“I love the wilderness. I consider Kazakhstan as a beautiful place. It's also very safe because there's not so many trees like in Europe, so we can land anywhere fairly safe also for beginner pilots,” he added.
Zhetysu region's tourism reaches new heights
Zhetysu’s mountains, hills, wide valleys, and stable thermals create perfect conditions for flights. The open terrain of the region also provides better visibility and more safe landing options for pilots during long cross-country flights.
“Kazakhstan’s nature is very pristine. It's very wild and what pilots are telling me is that this it the key element that they don't have in Europe, because European nature is very civilised. I would say they have coffee shops every five kilometres, hotels everywhere,” explained David Virshki.
Local authorities are supporting the initiative, seeing it as a way to boost the region’s tourism potential.
“We can currently see participants from Canada, Australia, the United States, and almost all across Europe and Asia. For us, this is a strong indicator that the region is becoming a magnet for hosting large-scale international and we plan to continue expanding in this direction,” said Yersin Ibrashev, Head of Tourism Department of the Zhetysu region.
At the same time, Kazakhstan is already exploring the possibility of a similar project at Lake Balkhash.
“We want to test the idea of acro paragliding over Lake Balkhash. As there are no mountains in the area, pilots would be launched using winch systems instead. The format could turn into a highly spectacular sporting event,” added Ibrashev.
The competition runs until 28 June. The World Cup stage also plays a key role in the international ranking system, where pilots collect points for global classification and qualification to major championships.
Looking ahead, Kazakhstan will host the Asian Cross-Country Paragliding Championship for the first time in 2028.