This is the most valuable achievement of the Latvian women’s skeleton of all time, because the former national team leader Lelde Priedulēna was unable to win a higher place in the stages of the World Cup.
Steel-winning Austrian Janina Floka lost 1.40 seconds in two races and second-placed Dutchman Kimberley Bosa lost 0.57 seconds.
The competition of the World Cup 2020/2021 was started by the Latvian skeletonist, who made the lower part of the track by mistake, but was less than half a second behind the track record belonging to the Russian athlete Jelena Nikitina (51.85 seconds), covering the distance in 51.41 seconds.
The fifth place was started by Janīna Floka, an Austrian who has trained quite a bit in Sigulda, who reached a new track record (51.49 seconds), being the first in the competition of 18 athletes, ahead of Steel.
On the fast track, Latvian skeletonists were surpassed only by the Dutchman Kimberley Boss, who was 0.37 seconds faster than Steel, who had a surprisingly high third place after the first race.
The titled Germans – Jacqueline Lelling and Tina Hermane – took eighth and tenth place, respectively, with 1.31 and 1.36 seconds behind Flock, while track record holder Nikitina was only twelfth 1.62 seconds behind Flock.
“The trip was quite good, although this is the best ice this season and you have to get used to the speed,” the athlete said live on LTV7, while coach Gints Dzērve added that the skeletonist still has a big margin because there were obvious mistakes.
In the second race, the Latvian athlete improved the time at the start by one hundredth of a second, but reached the seventh fastest time at the finish. She was just one-hundredth of a second ahead of fourth-place winner Anna Fernstedt from the Czech Republic.
With the second best time in the second race, Bosa was in the second also at the finish of the competition, but the best time in the second race was also Floka, who drove the track in 52.36 seconds, the Latvian skeletonist was 0.48 seconds behind her.
For steel, this was the first World Cup competition in which she was able to finish. This year she competed in Sigulda for the European Championship, which was also a stage of the World Cup, but was disqualified due to the unopened start number.
“No words. For the first time in the World Cup, home track, and such a good result. Before the matches I hoped for a place in the top ten,” the Latvian athlete was surprised by the good result of the competition.
“This was a freer ride, I liked it better, but we still have to think about how to improve the performance at the bottom of the track,” Dzērve told live channel LTV7. “It’s very nice to climb the podium in your home.”
Neither Hermane, Lelling nor Nikitina entered the top six.
Steel last season was the leading domestic skeletonist, and she has a preference to use one of the quotas allocated to Latvia, but it is not excluded that Dārta Zunte will start in one of the next stages of the World Cup. Steel won two stages of the European Cup in the 2019/2021 season and won sixth place in the World Junior Championship.
Although the stage in Sigulda is not well represented, almost all the strongest skeletonists of last season are represented in it, including the World Cup winner Jacqueline Leling (Germany), world champion Tina Herman (Germany) and European champion Jelena Nikitina (Russia). Only Canada and the United Kingdom are missing.
Today there will also be a competition for men, whose first trip will start at 15.
The first bobsleigh World Cup season will take place on Saturday and Sunday.
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Skeletonists Andy Steel and Dart Zunte in Sigulda celebrate a double victory in the European Cup stage; Netlaus also triumphs
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The World Cup stage in Sigulda also took place in February 2004, with competitions in women’s bobsleigh and skeleton. The victory in the men’s competition was celebrated by Thomas Dukurs at that time, who also had the only gold medal in the World Cup stages.
Since 2006, the International Federation of Bobsleigh and Skeletons has been organizing the World Cup stages together, dividing five sets of medals in one stage – in the skeleton for ladies and gentlemen, in bobsleigh for men in doubles and fours, and for bobsleighers in doubles.
However, the Sigulda track is currently not suitable for bobsleigh quad competitions, so there are two men’s doubles competitions in Latvia.
Next weekend, the second stage of the World Cup in skeleton and bobsleigh for two will take place in Sigulda. The next two stages will take place in Innsbruck, but one stage is planned in Winterberg after the new year. The stages will continue in St. Moritz and Königssee, but the end of the season is planned for mid-March on the Yanchin track, where the 2022 Beijing Olympics will take place. However, the progress of this stage is still under question.
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