Vitola and Aparjods ensure Latvian weekend at the end of the season

Sigulda (FIL/03. Mrz. 2024) Around 4500 spectators at the luge track in Sigulda created a great atmosphere. During the final women's and men's individual races at the EBERSPAECHER Luge World Cup. And even more so afterwards. Because the winners in both races came from Latvia: Elena Vitola and Kristers Aparjods.

When Elina Vitola went up the outrun after her second heat in the women's race, her Latvian team-mates, coaches, and support staff were waiting for the 23-year-old. She was sure of second place at the end of the season. After all, only Julia Taubitz, the winner of the overall World Cup, was still to race. But the 28-year-old German completely fluffed her start. She was unable to make up the deficit and ended up ninth. "I'm really annoyed," said Taubitz, "all the mistakes I made from the start to the finish didn't have to be there."

The Latvian team were all the more jubilant. Vitola's time of 1:23.176 minutes was her second World Cup victory after St. Moritz three years ago. "Today's run felt significantly smoother, though there's room for improvement, especially at the start," said Vitola. With the tailwind of her success at the end of the season, she says: “My goal for the next season is to be on the podium more regularly."

Behind her, two German luge ladies had made up a lot of ground in the second run. Anna Berreiter moved up from fourth place to second, just 0.074 seconds behind. "It's a crowning finale," said Berreiter, "I gave all my best, that's how I like to end the season." Her team-mate Merle Fräbel made it onto the podium in third place (0.115 seconds behind). However, this required a track record of 41.472 seconds. Only Taubitz had improved this to 41.487 seconds the day before. "The track record is the icing on the cake," said Fräbel jubilantly, "it's great to now hold two track records - Altenberg and Sigulda."

Ashley Farquharson also improved her time. The US American moved up from eighth place to fourth (0.149). Sigita Berzina, on the other hand, lost her good starting position in third place. The Latvian dropped back to fifth place (0.186). She was followed by World Champion Lisa Schulte (0.203).

Despite her ninth place, Julia Taubitz managed to break the 1000-point barrier in the overall World Cup. With 1034 points, she is only the second female luger to achieve this alongside Natalie Geisenberger (Germany). Berreiter (791) came second with her strong final ahead of Madeleine Egle (Austria/742) and Vitola (622).

Kristers Aparjods was also able to drive through the trellis of the Latvian support team. Although he had set a track record of 47.493 seconds, it was only clear to him at this point that his time of 1:35.169 minutes would put him on the podium. However, neither Felix Loch (Germany) nor Dominik Fischnaller (Italy) were able to push him out of the leader's position. Loch finished second, 0.146 seconds behind, while Fischnaller slipped back to fourth place (0.286).

Nico Gleirscher finished in between. The Austrian was 0.245 seconds slower than the winner Aparjods. "Kristers put in a great run," said Gleirscher, paying tribute. Loch also said approvingly: "Kristers was outstanding today, he deserved to win at home." The three-time Olympic Champion himself had a two-part run. "I really had some turbulence at the top, the first few curves were a bit hairy," he reported, "but then it was a great run."

And Gleirscher also took some positives home with him after the two Sigulda weeks: "I finally found the right sled set-up for Sigulda." Apart from that, all the lugers were enthusiastic about the new format with one run on each of the two days. "The new race format is cool," said Gleirscher, "it was still a bit quiet on Saturday, but there was a real racing atmosphere today." Gleirscher's brother David finished fifth (0.357) ahead of Gints Berzins (Latvia/0.528).

Overall World Cup winner Max Langenhan was unable to compete due to a back injury. However, outgoing German head coach Norbert Loch kept him up to date via video.