The Latvian national orienteering team at the World Orienteering Championships in the Czech Republic on Sunday ranked 14th in the sprint relay discipline. In the relay, two ladies and the same men started in the same team. The Latvian national team consisted of Irita Puķīte, Sandra Grosberga, Uldis Upītis and Andris Jubelis. The Latvian national team was ranked 14th among 22 teams that managed to reach the finish line during the test period.
Puķīte took the first stage of the relay, but was one of the slowest and passed the relay three minutes and 50 seconds behind the leader Sweden. The jubilee showed the 12th fastest time among the participants of the second stage, but Upītis handed over the relay in the divided 13th position – two minutes behind the fastest Norwegians in the stage.
In the last stage, Grosberga was seventh among the competitors, but the Latvian national team failed to break into the top ten. Grosberg lost a minute and 19 seconds to Andrina Benjaminsen, the winning Norwegian from her stage. The victory was won by the Swedish national team, Norway lost 26 seconds, but Switzerland was another three seconds slower. The Latvian four lost six minutes and 54 seconds to the leaders, taking the 14th place.
A holiday is planned for the world championship on Monday, but a medium-distance start is expected on Tuesday. It has already been reported that on Saturday Grosberg took the 25th place in the sprint discipline. She was the only one of the six Latvian athletes to enter the final, which was attended by 45 athletes for women and 46 athletes for men. Elza Ķuze, Irita Puķīte, Artūrs Pauliņš, Rūdolfs Zērnis and Andris Jubelis started in the qualification, but were not among the best.
Initially, this was planned as a championship only in the forest distances, but due to the competitions that did not take place last year, sprint and sprint relay have also been added to the program. Thus, the championship started on July 3 with a sprint, which was nominated by Sandra Grosberga, the best orienteering in the Baltics, as the main competition of the season.
Latvia is represented in the competition by 11 athletes: Edgars Bertuks, Artūrs Pauliņš, Mārtiņš Sirmais, Rūdolfs Zērnis, Uldis Upītis, Andris Jubelis and Sandra Grosberga, Inga Dambe, Līga Valdmane, Irita Puķīte, Elza Ķuze, but Rihards Krūmiņš and Signe reserve. It is the largest Latvian team of all time that has participated in the world championship.
A relay is scheduled for Thursday and a long distance race on Friday. The World Championships, for which 302 athletes from 40 countries have applied, will take place until July 9.
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