Ekaterina Katnikova, Kristers Aparjods and Maltcev / Khalilov the fastest at the Nations Cup in Sochi

Sochi (FIL) Ekaterina Katnikova (RUS), Kristers Aparjods (LAT) and the double Stanislav Maltcev / Dimitrii Khalilov (RUS) won the second FIL Nations Cup of the 2021/22 season on Friday, 26 November 2021 in Sochi, Russia.

On the 2014 Olympic track at the Sliding Center Sanki, 2020 World Champion Ekaterina Katnikova (RUS) took a commanding victory in 49.729 seconds ahead of Italy's Andrea Vötter (+0.386) and Viktoriia Demchenko (RUS/+0.448) on her 26th birthday. 41 Women's singles competed in the FIL Nations Cup to qualify for a starting place at the EBERSPÄCHER World Cup this weekend. The 27-year-old Katnikova was cautiously pleased: "I want to show two good runs tomorrow at the World Cup in particular, the Nations Cup victory today was okay, but just the qualification".

In the Men's singles, 23-year-old Latvian Kristers Aparjods was the fastest among the 37 starters.  With a time of 51.615 seconds, the ex-junior world champion won ahead of the two Russians Matvei Perestoronin (+0.164I and Pavel Repilov (+0.264). Kristers Aparjods, who already won the first Nations Cup a week earlier in China, was happy: "I had a few small mistakes in my race run, but then it is important for me especially in the World Cup and I still have some reserves for this race on Sunday. That is good to know".

In the Nations Cup of the Doubles, 17 sleds started. In a Russian quadruple success on home ice, the doubles Stanislav Maltcev / Dimitrii Khalilov won in 49.944 seconds ahead of their compatriots Vsevolod Kashkin / Konstantin Korshunov (+0.036). Andrei Bogdano / Iurii Prokhorov (+0.109) finished third.

Through the Nations Cup, which is always held in one run on Friday mornings, the athletes qualify weekly for the finals of the EBERSPÄCHER World Cup on Saturday and Sunday. The fastest twelve Women's singles and Doubles and the fastest 15 Men's singles of the last three World Cup races are each seeded for the World Cup start and do not have to qualify via the Nations Cup. For them there will be the training of the seeded group on Friday afternoon as the last race before the World Cup.

Detailed results and further information on the 2nd EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup of the 2021/22 season in Sochi (RUS), on the Nations Cup and the training sessions can be found under the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/eberspaecher-weltcup-10