Elīna Ieva Vītola from Sigulda, Kristers Aparjods from Saulkrasti and the consortium Mārtiņš Bots and Roberts Plūme took second place in the second stage of the World Cup in the team relay on the Whistler track in Canada.
Only teams from six countries competed in the first relay of the season. The Latvians executed their away matches almost flawlessly and overtook the then leaders, the Austrians who dominated the first leg of the World Cup. However, the German team, which started last, was still ahead of the Latvian team by 0.147 seconds.
In the previous two-man men’s competition, Bots/Plūme took sixth place, even though they were eighth after the first race (the third best result in the second). They lost a total of 0.280 seconds to the winners, German experts Eggert/Benneken.
The second Latvian crew, World Cup rookies Eduards Ševics-Mikeļševics from Garkalne and Lūkas Krasts, unsuccessfully completed the lower part of the first heat and finished in ninth place (+0.514).
In the general standings of the World Cup after three races (two World Cup stages and one Sprint Cup), Bots/Plūme are in fourth place (185 points) and Šević-Mikeļšević/Krast in tenth (103 points). The leaders are the Austrian Gats/Shefs (230 p.).
Latvian women’s crew Anda Upīte/Sanija Ozoliņa did not go to the World Cup stops in North America. The next round of the World Cup will take place next weekend at the Park City circuit in the USA.
The Latvian lugers took second place in the team event held on Saturday at the Winterberg track in Germany as part of the third stage of the Junior World Cup. Sigulda’s Franceska Bona, roped-rope Kaspars Rinks and double Raimonds Baltgalvis (Saulkrasti) and Krišjānis Brūns (Zaķumuiža) lost to the German foursome by 0.999 seconds.
In the previous junior individual competition, Zane Kaluma from Saulkrasti district took sixth place, while Franceska Bona, who was fourth fastest in one of the races, finished seventh in the all-around.
