Latvian toboggan duo Mārtiņš Bots / Roberts Plūme took eighth place in the first World Cup (WC) this season in Austria on Saturday, while the experienced brothers Juris and Andris Šici could not break into the leading tenth.
In the sum of two races, the victory was celebrated by the host Tom Steiss and his partner Lorenz Koller, who were the fastest in both races and overtaken the closest followers from Austria Janik Miller / Armin Frausser by 0.225 seconds.
The winners of last season’s overall rating from Germany Toni Egerts / Sasha Beneken took the lowest step on the podium, who were 0.280 seconds behind.
Of the Latvian doubles, Bots / Plums were the best, who were eighth in the second race, taking the same position in the sum of two races. They lost 0.423 seconds to the Austrians. The Bronze medal for Bot / Plum was 0.143 seconds away.
Oskars Gudramovičs / Pēteris Kalniņš reached the finish in the 11th position in the second run and took the 12th place in the sum of two races, the leaders losing 0.892 seconds. The brothers Šici lost almost a second (0.977) to the winners, who in the sum of two races unexpectedly ranked 14th among 22 crews.
Unexpectedly the best result from the Latvian doubles was achieved by Bots / Plūme, who reached the main competition through the Cup of Nations, which took place the day before. The young Latvian two lost 0.181 seconds to the leader in the first race and took the fifth place.
The Shici brothers slipped slightly in the middle of the track and finished in tenth position, losing 0.407 seconds to the winners. Two positions below was another Latvian duo Oskars Gudramovičs / Pēteris Kalniņš, who had a deficit of 0.495 seconds.
The main competition had already been provided by Andris Šics / Juris Šics and Oskars Gudramovičs / Pēteris Kalniņš, but the young duo Mārtiņš Bots / Roberts Plūme did it through the Cup of Nations. Kristen Putins / Imants Marcinkēvičs did not start at the Innsbruck stage.
Last season, the Shichi brothers won third place in the overall standings, yielding only to the German crews Tony Egert / Sas Beneken and Tobias Wendl / Tobias Arlt. The Latvian crew won the stage in Sigulda and the Sprint Cup in Lake Placid. Gudramovičs / Kalniņš was fifth in the overall standings, achieving the best result in Winterberg, where he won silver.
Last year in Innsbruck, Šici was fifth, but Gudramovičs / Kalniņš won eighth place.
On Sunday, competitions for women’s singles, relay and Sprint Cup are planned.
It has already been reported that the Latvian luge champion Kristers Apajords took the eighth place in the first stage of the World Cup in Austria on Saturday, while his compatriots Artūrs Dārznieks and Riks Kristens Rozītis finished outside the top ten.
In the sum of two races, the fastest was the titled German Felix Lohs, who won both races. He was 0.126 seconds ahead of his compatriot Johannes Ludwig, while the Italian Dominik Fisnaller won the bronze by conceding 0.180 seconds.
Among the representatives of Latvia, the most valuable result was shown by Aparjods, who was seventh in the second race, but ranked eighth in the sum. He conceded to Loham by 0.372 seconds.
Immediately behind the top ten was the Gardener, who had the 13th fastest time in the second race and a deficit of 0.685 seconds. Meanwhile, Rozītis showed the 17th time in the second run, ranking 16th among 32 athletes in the sum of two races.
Behind the podium were three hosts – David Gleirscher, Jonas Millers and Niko Gleirscher. The Gleirser brothers were separated in less than a tenth of a second.
22 nations have registered for the first stage of the World Cup. US and Canadian national teams will not participate in World Cup stages until January 2021 due to Covid-19 virus pandemic
It is planned that the 2020/2021 season will take place only on European tracks.
The next competition will take place in three German cities – Altenberg, Oberhof and Winterberg. The year 2021 will also start in Germany, where matches will take place on the Königsee track, but then the athletes will go to Sigulda, where they will fight for the European Championship medals.
The stages will continue in Oberhof and Innsbruck in January, but the end of the season is scheduled for the second half of February, but the venue is not yet known, as the Beijing Olympic track was canceled this week.
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