European Universities Debating Championship 2026 Appreciation Post Last week, Aigerim Aibassova and I made the ESL Quarterfinals at Dutch EUDC 2026, in addition to finishing as the first reserve team for the Open break. This is the first time in five years that a Kazakh team has broken at a debate major, since Aigerim and Mukhtar Tashkenbayev made the Open Quarterfinals at Korea Worlds 2021, and the first Kazakh break at Euros since Mukhtar's and Alisher's historic run to the Open Semifinals at Astana EUDC 2020. Aigerim is now a top-20 ESL speaker of EUDC, as well as only the second person in Kazakhstan's history to break at both Worlds and Euros. It feels particularly surreal because I remember watching those teams on Zoom while I was finishing high school and starting my first year of college debating. Since then, I made plans to attend EUDC virtually every single year, only for one obstacle or another to get in the way. I am beyond grateful to Aigerim for agreeing to go on this journey with me, and to both of us for believing that dreams don't melt under pressure. The best part of this Euros was getting to see my international friends again. There is nothing better than knowing you're loved and that people are excited to see you, and the parties and giggles we shared didn't disappoint, despite all the hiccups with this year's organization. A special thank you goes to Alisa Popova, with whom we did several competitions, including Sofia WUDC, last fall. Without those experiences, I would probably have retired from debating by now, never chasing another big thing. I'm not going to lie, coming from a circuit that is so far away from everyone else can be tough. You have to carefully plan for the one or two tournaments you can attend in person each year, and it's easy to feel like you're missing out socially. I also just had a 24 hour train ride after 10 hours of flying, so I will definitely need a week or two to recover from all this. But in the end, it's so worth it. More than anything, I hope this run inspires more speakers and judges from Kazakhstan to give it a shot. Considering that our entire prep consisted of four rounds at Aberdeen Pre-EUDC, I'm incredibly proud of what we achieved. At the same time, I know that we can do more. So perhaps...see you in season 2026–2027?