German team gives coach Loch a Team Relay victory as a farewell present

Sigulda (FIL/03 March 2024) This was the result the German team had hoped for: a victory at the end of the season in the EBERSPAECHER Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW. After all, this race was also the last in which head coach Norbert Loch coached the team. The sextet of Anna Berreiter, Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt, Felix Loch and Jessica Degenhardt/Cheyenne Rosenthal crossed the finish line in 2:57.516 minutes. "That was the crowning finale for Norbert," said Degenhardt, before she and her teammates gave Loch a champagne shower." Max and I came up with this idea. I do know that he hates it, but we had to do something after 16 successful years," said Loch's son Felix, who also sent his regards to the injured overall World Cup winner Max Langenhan. Anna Berreiter said very emotionally: "Thank you Norbert, you have done so much for us."  After a thorough analysis of the weekend, Norbert Loch concluded: "It's a happy moment because it ended successfully. I'm proud of the whole team."

After the two victories of Elina Vitola and Kristers Aparjods in the individual races, the Latvians were satisfied with second place. Elina Vitola, Martins Bots/Roberts Plume, Kristers Aparjods, and Anda Upite/Zane Kaluma were 0.141 seconds slower than the Germans. Third place went to the US team in the line-up of Ashley Farquharson, Zachary di Gregorio/Sean Hollander, Tucker West, Chevonne Forgan /Sophia Kirkby (1.006 seconds back). Italy (1.685), Ukraine (2.427), and China (6.315) finished on the other ranks.

The Austrian team produced a curiosity. Starting athlete Lisa Schulte crashed in corner 15, but just managed to get back onto the sled to hit the finish touch pad. However, Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl had been informed of the crash and had already taken their visors down when the start gate opened. Quickly putting their visors back on, they set off to catch up. "We wanted to secure seventh place," said Steu with a broad grin. They succeeded, finishing 19.285 seconds behind, in a field of seven teams.