For the second weekend in a row, Sigulda will host the World Cup stage skeleton, where housewife Andija Steel reached 11th place in the women’s competition on Friday. In a strong competition, the young athlete failed to repeat what she had done a week ago when she climbed the podium.
Another victory in the sum of two races was convincingly ensured by the Austrian Janīna Floka with the result of one minute and 42.93 seconds. Second place went to 0.65 seconds slower Russian Jelena Nikitina, but the trio of winners was divided by Dutch skeletonist Kimberley Bosa and German Tīna Hermane 0.80 seconds behind the winner.
The steel races reached 10th and 11th results, lagging behind Flock by 1.61 seconds.
Andy Steel’s second trip
Mistakes made on the second race prevented Andy from picking up enough speed to save the top ten at the finish.
Interview with Andy Steel after the second trip
At the end of the steel competition, he was told in an interview on Latvian Television that the second trip was better, not counting the faulty 13th round. Andy is committed to learning from his mistakes in preparation for the next stage of the Egls track.
The leader after the first race was Floka, who also won the previous stage in Sigulda a week ago. The closest Russian rival, Nikitin, was 0.31 seconds ahead of the leader.
Andy Steel’s first trip
Andy Steel’s first trip to the PK skeleton2min
—
Steel was pleasantly surprised a week ago with the 3rd place in the stage, but the next start for the young athlete turned out to be more difficult. The first race did not go well without mistakes, which prevented me from entering the TOP 5, and it was not easy to fight for it in the second race. Andy was separated from the leader by 0.80 seconds.
Andy Steel on the first trip
After the first trip, Steel admitted in an interview on Latvian Television that there were many small mistakes that took a lot of time, and the skeleton was also prepared for warmer weather. The athlete emphasized that everything possible should be done on the second trip.
Interview with Gints Dzerve after the first trip
Interview with coach Gints Dzervis after the 1st trip1min
—
In turn, the coach of the Latvian youth team Gints Dzērve said that all the athletes made mistakes on the track, but in choosing the steel equipment it turned out to be wrong to rely on the weather to be wet and warm.
Interview with Gints Dzerve after the second trip
18 skeletonists took part in the competition.
Interview with Gints Dzerve before the competition
Interview with coach Gints Dzervis7min
—
Coach Dzērve described the 3rd place won by Tēraudas a week ago in an interview with Latvian Television as a big and pleasant surprise, which increases Andija’s faith in her strength and confidence that the work gives the desired result. Eight young skeletonists are training under the supervision of the crane, although he admitted that it is difficult to accurately predict future season plans for the national team due to the pandemic, but the main starts will be all championships.
Interview with Marek Mezencev
The coach of the British national team Mareks Mezencevs said that the British skeletonists trained in Sigulda almost all of October. Due to the pandemic, they follow a very strict regime, spending as little time outside the hotel as possible. The British route has only a hotel, a track and a weight room, but Mezencev has an additional option to spend the night at home.
Later on Friday, the men will start, representing Latvia for Martin and Thomas Dukuri.
On Saturday and Sunday, one stage each on the Sigulda track is planned for bobsleigh doubles crews. The race will be shown live on LTV7 and replay.lv.
–
Highlight text and press Ctrl+Enterto send the text to be edited!
Highlight text and press Report a bug buttons to send the text to be edited!
–
–