Kendija Aparjode, Gints Berzins and Jubayi/Hou triumph at Nations Cup in Sigulda

Sigulda (FIL/03 Jan 2025) On January 3, the first FIL Nations Cup of 2025 took place on the only artificially-iced track in the Baltic States, in Sigulda, Latvia. The event, which serves as a qualifying race for the EBERSPAECHER World Cup the next two days, featured exciting heats.

In the end, Kendija Aparjode and Gints Berzins from Latvia triumphed in the singles and the Chinese duo Saikeyi Jubayi and Shuo Hou took their first victory in doubles.

The Latvian luger Gints Berzins showed impressive nerves on his home track and secured first place with a time of 48.045 seconds. Berzins dominated all intermediate times and was able to maintain his lead until the finish. Second place went to the American Tucker West, who was only 0.061 seconds behind Berzins with 48.106 seconds. West impressed with a strong final sprint, securing his place on the podium ahead of strong international competition. Third place in the men's event went to another local hero, Kaspars Rinks from Latvia, who sprinted onto the podium with a time of 48.270 seconds. Despite a slow start, Rinks showed an impressive chase and defended his place in the top three.

The other athletes also delivered impressive performances. Slovakia's Jozef Ninis took fourth place with a time of 48.336 seconds, followed by Australia's Alexander Michael Ferlazzo and Ukraine's Anton Dukach.

“I am satisfied with today's victory, but there is still room for improvement. And my goal for the home World Cup on Sunday is clearly to win. I always want to win and I give everything to achieve that,” said the confident winner Berzins.

A local heroine also impressed in the women's event with a commanding victory in the first Nations Cup of 2025. Kendija Aparjode was delighted: “It's really nice to start the World Cup weekend with a win. But there is still room for improvement for the important race tomorrow.” The 27-year-old Latvian Aparjode won with a time of 41.763 seconds.

Second place went to Italy's Verena Hofer, who secured second place with a time of 42.071 seconds (+0.308) ahead of her teammate Sandra Robatscher. Robatscher completed the women's podium with a time of 42.105 seconds (+0.342).

First victory for Saikeyi Jubayi and Shuo Hou of China

Saikeyi Jubayi and Shuo Hou impressed with their first victory. Prior to this, the two athletes from China had twice made it onto the podium at the Nations Cup, both times on the technically demanding artificial ice track in Sigulda, Latvia. On February 23, 2024, the two athletes from China took second place behind Rieder/Gufler from Italy. Only three hundredths of a second separated them from victory.

On January 3, 2025, Jubayi/Hou were the fastest doubles team. The 24-year-old Jubayi from Xi'an and his teammate Hou, also 24, won with a time of 42.330 seconds, beating Tomas Vavercak and Matej Zmij of Slovakia (0.126 seconds back).

The 25-year-old Vavercak from Dolny Smokovec and his teammate Zmij from Helcmanovce, who is the same age, took 13th place at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and regularly impress with fast start times and eleven places on the podium in the Nations Cup up till now.

The favored local heroes Sevics/Mikelsevics finished third, 0.187 seconds behind the two young Chinese, Jubayi/Hou.

All registered women's doubles competing in the World Cup will start at 2:30 p.m. with the training session for the seeded group. None of the duos had to qualify for the World Cup via the Nations Cup.

Detailed results and further information about the Nations Cup and the 4th EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup 2024/2025 in Sigulda are available at the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/eberspaecher-world-cup-38