Team Latvia successfully defends European Championship title at home

Sigulda (FIL/15 Jan2023) Two fantastic World Cup weeks came to an end with a victory of the hosts in the Team Relay during continuous rain in the ice track in Sigulda. Team Latvia won like in the previous week ahead of Team Germany and Team Italy and successfully defended their European Championship title.

The Latvian quartet dominated in the Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW and finished in 2:13.143 minutes, the overall fifth relay World Cup victory for Latvia. Elina Ieva Vitola, Kristers Aparjods and the double Martins Bots/Roberts Plume thus also won the third European Championship gold in relay history for Latvia and stood on the podium in all three relay events this season, twice of them on top.

Second place went to the German team with Anna Berreiter, Max Langenhan and Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt (+0.367 sec.) ahead of Team Italy with Sandra Robatscher, Dominik Fischnaller and Emanel Rieder / Simon Kainzwaldner (+0.774 sec.). The team relays from Ukraine, Slovakia and China finished fourth to sixth.

“To finish with gold again here at home in front of our audience is the most beautiful thing that could happen to us as a team," Elina Ieva Vitola was happy about her second European Championship medal within one hour. Team mate Kristers Aparjods feels strengthened for the upcoming World Championships with this victory: "The races here have shown that we are well prepared. I am looking forward to the track in Oberhof because it is very similar to Sigulda in some sections. I know 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.”

Gesundheitlich angeschlagen, Probleme mit der Abstimmung und Linie, schwere Stürze und Pech mit dem Material – der technisch schwierige Eiskanal von Sigulda kannte kein Pardon mit den Schützlingen von Österreichs Cheftrainer Christian Eigentler. Im zweiten Lauf des Damenrennens zeigte Madeleine Egle, was möglich gewesen wäre, und war erneut ein sicherer Halt in der Team-Staffel. Mit dem Sturz von Juri Gatt/Riccardo Schöpf gab es auch diesmal kein Happyend für Team Österreich. Von den neun gestarteten Team-Staffeln kamen nur sechs ins Ziel, da neben Österreich auch Polen und die USA am Touchpad patzten.

Detailed results of the 3rd EBERSPÄCHER Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW can be found here: https://www.fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/eberspaecher-team-staffel-weltcup-presented-by-bmw-14

The European Championship results are listed here: https://www.fil-luge.org/de/ergebnisse/fil-europa-meisterschaften-4