Brothers Andris and Juris Šici say in a conversation with the spokesperson of the Latvian Latvian Luge Sports Federation (KSF) after the first homologation trips of the Beijing Olympic track in two talks.
Athletes flew to the Beijing Winter Olympics homologation of the Jancina ice rink on October 23.
After a long journey and several Covid-19 tests, the athletes successfully arrived in Beijing. “We performed Covid-19 tests in Latvia, Germany and entering China,” say the athletes. “It was cool that the Chinese had sent us a special charter flight to Germany (for athletes and coaches of the International Luge Federation (FIL) and the Latvian Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (LBF)) to take us safely to China.”
“This track has many similar elements to other tracks, such as Nagano, Sochi, Whistler and other high-class tracks, but there are also curves that are something completely new and not seen anywhere else,” the sleigh riders share their first impressions.
For Andris and Juris, this is already a homologation of the third Olympic track. Together, they have now taken part in the homologations of four tracks – the Sochi, Pyongyang and Beijing tracks, as well as the homologation of the Paramonova track in Russia, which did not become the home of the Olympic Games. “
The brothers say that the daily routine is tense and strictly planned: “Our daily routine is quite planned, we get up at 6 in the morning, then go to the track to watch the training of Chinese athletes and better understand the track lines. After that we sit down After the training on the track, we immediately have a meeting, during which all together (athletes and coaches) discuss the trips on the track, watch the video and analyze them, as well as discuss the route plan for the next day. “
In China, he is watching hard to wear face masks. “We have to be in masks at all times and strictly follow the rules here.” tells the brothers. “The only moment we can remove the masks is when we’re in our rooms.”
They say that the first impressions of the track were very good, and you can see that the Chinese have put a lot of work into the architecture and construction of the track. They say that “the track is really interesting”.
Experienced athletes took the first races on the new track on October 27.
“On Tuesday we made three races and in the last race we started to start from the foot of the ladies’ start. We drove all three races steadily, with each ride we started to understand the track, but in the third race we reached 116 kilometers per hour,” .
“The feelings were interesting, the adrenaline rushed, because taking the first ride on this track was something completely new,” say the athletes on the first ride. “The track isn’t too easy, but we’d say it in a good way, because you’ll have to decipher a lot of small cleats on this track to be able to drive fast.”
Other athletes are also generally positive about the track configuration.
Athletes will return to Latvia on November 2 and will continue preparations for the new luge sport season 2020/2021, which will be opened from November 27 to 29 on the Austrian track in Innsbruck with the first stage of the World Cup.
Andris and Juris Šici have won silver medals in doubles at the 2010 Olympic Games on the Whistler Track in Canada and two bronze awards – in doubles and in the team relay – at the 2014 Games in Sochi.
The Beijing Olympics are scheduled for February 4 to 20, 2022.
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