Fariba Hashimi wins Asian Games 2026 silver in women’s road race in Aichi-Nagoya
Fariba Hashimi won silver in the women’s road race at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya on September 22, finishing in 2 hours, 50 minutes and 5 seconds and losing the gold to China’s Guo Li in a photo-finish; the medal made her Afghanistan’s first female medallist at the Asian Games since 2002.
Born on 22 April 2003, the 23-year-old began cycling in Faryab province after she and her older sister Yulduz saw a local race advert in 2017; neither had ridden a bike before they borrowed neighbours’ bikes, learned in a few hours and entered the event, where Fariba won and Yulduz finished second. The sisters initially hid their identities—Fariba wore a scarf, mask and sunglasses—and continued racing under false names while facing threats and assaults, at times dressing as a man en route to training and covering her face to avoid recognition.
After the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Hashimi fled Afghanistan and received help from Alessandra Cappellotto, president of the women’s empowerment group Road to Equality, who assisted Afghan cyclists in reaching Italy in August 2021. The sisters settled in northern Italy and trained in the Little Dolomites, with Cappellotto arranging language lessons and securing a contract with an Italian team.
In 2022 the UCI hosted the Afghan road championships in Aigle, Switzerland, for around 50 exiled cyclists, where Fariba beat her sister to claim the title. Olympic Solidarity funding subsequently enabled both sisters to join the UCI World Cycling Centre in Aigle, with scholarships providing financial and technical support.
Hashimi turned professional with Valcar–Travel & Service in 2022 and moved to Israel Premier Tech Roland Development in 2023. At the UCI Road World Championships in Glasgow that year, she and Yulduz became the first women to represent Afghanistan at the event since the Taliban took over.
The 2024 season was a breakthrough: Fariba was part of the six-member gender-balanced Afghan team at the Paris Olympics and served as a flag bearer at the opening ceremony; she attacked with 125km to go in the Olympic road race, led the breakaway and finished 75th. Weeks later she won the queen stage of the Tour de l’Ardèche with a solo attack, becoming the first female Afghan cyclist to win a UCI race, and also finished eighth at the Tour de l’Avenir Femmes and tenth at the Giro Mediterraneo in Rosa. In 2025 she joined Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling as the first Afghan rider in the Women’s WorldTour, and this year she rides for Vini Fantini–BePink.
Only days before the road-race podium in Aichi-Nagoya, Hashimi had placed seventh in the time trial; she highlighted the limited support she received at the Games, saying, “I’m here without a mechanic, without any preparation. We brought one guy with us from the national federation, and he just drove the car.” She described the Asian Games achievement as a moment bigger than herself, saying it represented the dreams of millions of Afghan women who have lost their freedom and voice.
Her sights are now set on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, and she has said she hopes to ride the streets of Kabul one day side by side with Afghan women; after Aichi-Nagoya, she has a bigger platform to push for that.
