Latvian sled riders start World Cup season with 4th place, Shici second in sprint / Article / LSM.lv

On Sunday, the Latvian toboggan team took the 4th place in the relay relay in the first stage of the World Cup season on the Igls track in Austria, according to the organizers. Kendija and Kristers Aparjodi, as well as a two-man crew Mārtiņš Bots / Roberts Plūme started in the team. At the end of the stage, the second place in the sprint competition was won by Andris Šica / Juris Šica double crew.

German luge athletes Jūlija Taubica, Felix Lohs and Toni Egerts / Sasha Beneken won convincingly with the result of two minutes and 9.742 seconds, but the closest Austrian competitors were only 0.030 seconds behind. The Russian team won the third place, losing 0.121 seconds to the Germans, but ahead of the Latvian quartet by 0.152 seconds.

Earlier on Sunday, in the women’s competition, the best Latvian sled women ranked immediately after the TOP 10. Aparjode won the 11th place, and was one position ahead of Eliza Tīrums, but Ulla Zirne and Sigita Bērziņa took the 15th and 23rd place in the competition of 28 participants. The entire podium was occupied by the Germans, with Taubica in honor of the winner.

At the end of the first stage of the competition in the non-Olympic sprint discipline, the Shitz brothers gave in only 0.091 seconds to the Austrian Thomas Steu / Lorenz Koller. Oskars Gudramovičs / Pēteris Kalniņš was ninth, Bots / Plūme took 13th place.

In the men’s sprint, Aparjods and Artūrs Dārznieks ranked 10th and 13th, respectively. Aparjode, Tīruma and Zirne also start in the women’s sprint.

The distribution of seats in the sprint is determined by the results of one race, moreover, the time counting for the rider on the track starts over a longer distance after the start. In a World Cup sprint, you can earn as many points in the overall standings as in the main event.

It has already been reported that the day before, in the competition of two crews in the Latvian national team, Bots / Plums, who won 8th place, did best, while Aparjods was eighth in the men’s competition.

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