FIL – International Luge Federation
Sigulda, Latvia (ots)
Two fantastic World Cup weeks ended with a victory for the hosts in the team relay in continuous rain on the ice channel in Sigulda. As in the previous week, Team Latvia won ahead of Team Germany and Team Italy and thus successfully defended its European Championship title.
The Latvian quartet dominated the Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW and, in 2:13.143 minutes, secured Latvia’s fifth Relay World Cup victory. Elina Ieva Vitola, Kristers Aparjods and the doubles Martins Bots/Roberts Plume also won Latvia’s third European Championship gold in relay history and were on the podium in all three relay decisions this season, twice on top of them.
The German team with Anna Berreiter, Max Langenhan and Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt (+0.367 seconds) followed in second place ahead of Team Italy with Sandra Robatscher, Dominik Fischnaller and Emanuel Rieder/Simon Kainzwaldner (+0.774 seconds). The team relays from Ukraine, Slovakia and China finished fourth to sixth.
“Finishing gold again here at home in front of our audience is the best thing that could have happened to us as a team,” said Elina Ieva Vitola about her second European Championship medal within an hour. Team colleague Kristers Aparjods feels strengthened for the forthcoming World Championships with this victory: “The races here have shown that we are well prepared. I’m looking forward to the track in Oberhof because it is very similar to Sigulda in individual passages. I know that that I can be fast, and for us as a team it would of course be a dream if we could beat the German team again on a German track.”
The German ladies say goodbye to Sigulda with a double success at the 5th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup. Anna Berreiter won her first European Championship gold and her first World Cup victory of the season. With a total time of 1:24.600, the Olympic silver medalist relegated her teammate Dajana Eitberger (+0.031s) and Elina Ieva Vitola (LAT, +0.037s) to the World Cup and European Championship places. The 22-year-old Latvian was also happy about the title in the U23 European Championship.
On Saturday the men started in singles and the doubles for women and men. The racing script couldn’t have been more exciting than for the men. The German Max Langenhan won his first European title on the only artificial ice toboggan run in the Baltic States, ahead of teammate Felix Loch and local hero Kristers Aparjods. After a botched first run, the 23-year-old, with a best time of 48.410 seconds, overtook everyone from twelfth place and won in a total time of 1:37.588 ahead of Loch (+0.058s) and Aparjods (+0.085s).
In doubles for women and men it was supposed to be a Latvian doubles festival again, but the international competition didn’t play along. Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer (ITA) and Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt (GER) won the 5th EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup of the season and thus also the European Championship title. They relegated their Latvian competitors Upite/Ozolina and Bots/Plume to second place.
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Original content from: FIL – International Luge Federation, transmitted by news aktuell
