The BMX Supercross World Cup will take place for the second consecutive weekend at the Bogota circuit in Colombia. Eight athletes defended Latvia’s honor. Similar to the week before, again the best results of Latvian athletes were for women.
Veronika Monika Stūriška (“Silva ziķeri / Smiltenes BJSS”), winner of the previous two stages in the women’s U23 group, started the day with a convincing first round win, ahead of the closest by more than two seconds.
In the quarter-finals, coach student Ārtas Kātiņas continued her winning streak. Runner-up Kanami Tanno from Japan was 0.7 seconds behind. In the semifinals also the undefeated 11th grade student of the Jaunpiebalga Lyceum. This made it possible to obtain the first choice of the starting track for the final.
In the decisive race of the day, Veronika was very convincing. The start was positive, which allowed for a sure advantage at the end of the straight. In the second straight, the flying Latvian developed fantastic speed, gaining a big advantage. Our driver quietly finished in first place, obtaining her third triumph in the last three stages of the World Cup. Veronika’s performance is clearly confirmed by her lap time in the final. 35.688 seconds was also the best among all the female elite group athletes.
It should be noted that the athlete from “Silva ziķeri / Smiltenes BJSS” also secured victory in the overall World Cup, which is another brilliant success in Latvian sport. Previously, Māris Strombergs did something like this.
Vineta Pētersone (“Silva ziķeri”), the only representative of our elite women’s group, successfully passed the first round. In the first match of the day, coach’s student Āirts Kātiņas finished in fourth place, ahead of the Colombian Andrea Escobara, winner of the title. Vineta got the fourth place in the quarterfinals. This gave the opportunity to compete in the semifinals. In it, the pupil of the coach Đirtas Kātiņas took the sixth position. The stage ended in 12th place.
In the men’s elite, Kristen Krieger finished sixth in the first round race. In the next race of the last hope, Kristen got the second result, which allowed her to continue the competition to the round of 16. In it, the Latvian champion took seventh place, not qualifying for the quarter-finals.
In the U23 group, out of five Latvians, Rinalds Jānis Kārkliņš and Mārtiņš Emīls Treimanis managed to get through the first round. In the round of 16, respectively, the fifth and seventh place of both did not give them a chance to compete in the quarter-finals.
The final phase of the BMX Supercross World Cup season will take place on Sunday in Bogotá.
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