After the excellent results in the World Cup stages in December, where in Lillehammer 11th place was taken in the distancewager the first semifinal was reached in the sprinttaking 12th place, but before Christmas He won 17th place in the Davos sprint, the skier from Vecbebriem was used to responsibilities, so staying outside the top 30 and not qualifying for the quarter-finals in the first stage of the ‘Tour de ski’ initially seemed like a failure. Also, if you remember the last two “Tour de ski”, where with the 15th and 21st times, Patricija convincingly passed the qualification and reached the quarterfinals, finally taking the 26th and 19th place .
However, there really was no cause for concern, because the Top30 was only two tenths of a second lower and skiers who have better results than Eiduk in the sprint do not always pass the qualification and go to the preliminary rounds, because several equal skiers compete for the top 30 places.
Although in the second stage of the 10 km pursuit in the classic from 31st place (the Italian who took 26th place in the sprint did not start, so Eiduka did not start 32nd, but 31st – ed.) he managed to slip a couple of places down to 35th placehowever, there was also a positive feature, namely, in the group of 32nd to 42nd place at the finish, he was able to outrun most of his competitors and showed good tactical skills over the distance.
This was followed by fourth-tenth finishes in the first two stages at Valmister in Switzerland flash with 14th place in the third stage of the 10km classic with interval start In Oberstdorf, Germany, putting in a career-best performance in the classic style, taking both the best finish and the best result in the ski style in the interval, taking into account the time lapsed by the leaders. The runners-up U23 world champion was not in the top 20 in the PK stages in the classic style over this distance, 21st place in March 2022 in Oslo was her best performance so far. On the other hand, in the classic-style interval start distance, Eiduka had only been in the top 30 once, finishing exactly 30th at the end of November in Finland.
Here the changed tactics in 2022 manifested themselves again, which was also clearly visible in 11th place in the ice skating in Lillehammer, i.e. a very reserved start and an increase in pace after the first third of the distance. At km 2.1, Patricija was already 38 seconds behind the leader, dropping out of the top 56 in 56th place, and at km 3.1 in 51st (+44 sec.). In the next half kilometer, the leading skier from the Baltics kept the same pace as leader Frida Karlsson and in terms of positions made a huge climb up to 29th place. Eiduka matched Carlson’s pace for the next kilometer and a half as well, moving up to 16th place. The deficit at the finish reached 1:15, meaning that the gap of 45 seconds saved in the first 3km was only increased by 30 seconds in the last 7km.
In Wednesday’s 20km pursuit, Patricija Eidukas started fourteenth, 20 seconds from tenth and 15 seconds from twelfth. At first, the goal was to try and catch a group of eight skiers from 5th to 12th place alongside Norway’s Lota Udnes Veng, Marta Bergani and Switzerland’s Nadine Fendrich. In the first 1.5km we got close to a gap of seven seconds and it looked like the competitors ahead of us would be caught up, but as we went on the gap increased slightly and over the next 8.5km it stayed within 15-20 seconds.
This changed when Jessica Diggins caught Patricia’s group in the middle of the race, thanks to whose efforts the aforementioned eighth place was taken over the next 3.5 km, and thus the Latvian skier had a chance to fight for a place in the top ten. After skiing very well tactically and waiting for the right opportunity, with a strong pull on the last climb, Patricija took the lead in the group of 11 skiers from 5th to 15th place and finished in front, icompeting for the very high and at the same time unexpected 5th place.
It’s hard to say how things would have turned out if Patricia’s group hadn’t been captured by Diggins. Would it be possible to catch a 12-year-old? Apart from Eiduka herself, none of the other four could keep up the pace to get anywhere near the eight skiers ahead, and at least until Diggins arrived there was no indication that they would. However, only half the distance had been covered at that time. In any case, the American’s efforts benefited our successful skier, and Patricia got the opportunity to once again prove herself in the battle for a high career, and it worked out great.
Neither the sprinter Urevca, nor the exhausted Diggins, who had done a tremendous job, nor another of the elite skiers managed to overtake Vecbebrem’s skier at the finish line. Great tactics and a unique and fantastic finish from the 22-year-old Latvian. It’s a huge success, but not a sensation, even if it was the first time I made the top six, because it wasn’t the first time in the top ten. Eiduka had cracked the Top 10 twice before, and was close to the top ten a couple of times as well. As a result, her Patricia made a brilliant return to Oberstdorf, where in February 2021, due to her exhaustion, she wrestled in the world championship and was ranked around forty instead of thirty at minimum.
Another new bar has been broken, i.e. the top six has been reached for the first time. The next goal is already an award-winning place, which Patricia could try to fight for in the last stage of this year’s tour against the mountain. Low height and weight are the advantage of the Latvian, who proved himself in 2021 with the 10th place presented.
Such a breakthrough here in the third and fourth stage makes the decision to continue the tour and go all the way to the end as in 2021, because no final decision has been made before the “Tour de ski”. Last year Patricija participated in the first four stages, after which, according to the previous plan, she did not continue the tour, preparing for the U23 world championship, where she later won Latvia’s historic first medal at the world championships – the silver.
Tomorrow the “Tour de ski” will continue with the fifth of seven stages, with the skiers engaged in the classic sprint. Out of the remaining 46 skiers in the women’s race, Patricija Eidukas will start qualifying eighth.
Resources used:
Latvian Ski Federation | infoski.lv
