38th FIL Junior World Championships 2023 in Bludenz: Yulianna Tunytska, Kaspars Rinks, Ziedina/Zvilna and Rinks/Jegorovs Junior World Champions

Bludenz (FIL/16 Jan 2023) On the weekend of January 14 and 15, 2023, the 38th FIL Junior World Championships took place in Bludenz (Austria). More than 100 athletes between 15 and 21 years of age and from 17 nations had traveled to Vorarlberg. The new Bludenz ice track with six curves and a length of 700 meters was opened for junior sports only in autumn 2020.

With track record in first run, once start and twice run best time, Latvian Kaspars Rinks secured the Junior World Championship title in Men's Singles on Saturday in dream weather. With the running time of 31,864 seconds the new Junior World Champion was the fastest among the 42 athletes on the short track in Vorarlberg. "Before the first run, I felt good, because I had a very good and successful training week, as a result of which there was no reason to be nervous, because I was confident. But I was a bit nervous before the second run, as last year's mistake that I made prevented me from fighting for the Title of European Champion. But I successfully overcame the concern and made a good second run, which allowed me to climb the highest podium step. The feeling is really good because there's been a lot of work that's been put in, which has paid off for," said Kaspars Rinks.

Marco Leger was already in second place at the halfway point, and in the end the German, who is only 17 years old, was able to secure a commanding silver medal with a gap of 35 hundredths of a second. Bronze went to Leger's teammate Hannes Röder (+ 0.427).

In women's doubles, too, two young Latvians, Viktorija Ziedina and Selina Zvilna, set the second track record of the day with 78.09 km/h and a time of 34.422 seconds and thus also took the title. Only by one thousandth of a second the double from Austria, Lisa Zimmermann and Dorothea Schwarz, missed the first place. The two Tyroleans were also happy about the silver medal.

On Sunday, January 15, it was the turn of the young women in the singles, the junior men in the doubles and the teams in the relay.

The first junior world title was secured by Yulianna Tunytska. The 19-year-old Ukrainian relegated Barbara Allmaier (+0.211) from Austria and Alexandra Oberstolz (ITA/0.348 sec.) to the other podium places.

In the doubles of the male juniors the individual World Champion Kaspars Rinks convinced also with his teammate Vitalijs Jegorovs. The young Latvians set the fastest time twice and won the World Junior title in front of Moritz Jäger with Valentin Staudte from Germany (+0,208) and Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsja (+0,628) from the USA.

Finally, the Team Relay from Germany secured the only gold. Anka Jänicke, Marco Leger and Moritz Jäger/Valentin Staudte took the title with a running time of 1:41.746 minutes sovereign. Silver was won by the quartet from Ukraine (+1.335) ahead of the Latvian team (+1.909 sec.). The relay teams from the USA, Slovakia, Italy and Romania finished fourth to seventh.

Prominent support

Vorarlberg's politicians also did not want to miss this special event. Mayor Simon Tschann, Provincial Councilor Christian Gantner, Provincial Parliament Member Elke Zimmermann, Provincial Parliament Vice President Monika Vonier, National Councilor Reinhold Einwallner, FIL representative Philipp Trattner and ÖVP Provincial Parliament Member Christoph Thoma supported the athletes on site in Hinterplärsch near Bludenz. At the award ceremony, they presented the proud winners with their medals, cups and bouquets of flowers.

The winners at a glance:

Junior Men (14.01.2023):

1st place: Rinks Kaspars (LAT)
2nd place: Leger Marco (GER)
3rd place: Röder Hannes (GER)

Doubles Junior Women (14.01)

1st place: Ziedina Viktorija & Zvilna Selina (LAT)
2nd place: Zimmermann Lisa & Schwarz Dorothea (AUT)
3rd place: Robezniece Marta & Bogdanova Kitija (LAT)

Junior ladies (15.01)

1st place: Tunytska Yulianna (UKR)
2nd place: Allmaier Barbara (AUT)
3rd place: Oberstolz Alexandra (ITA)

Doubles Junior Men (15.01)

1st place: Rinks Kaspars & Jegorovs Vitalijs (LAT)
2nd place: Jäger Moritz & Steudte Valentin (GER)
3rd place: Mueller Marcus & Haugsjaa Ansel (USA)

Team (15.01)

1st place: Jänicke Anka, Leger Marco, Jäger - Steudte (GER)
2nd place: Tunytska Yulianna, Martsinovskyi Danyil, Mykyevich - Babura (UKR)
3rd place: Kaluma Zane, Rinks Kaspars, Baltgalvis - Bruns (LAT)

For the detailed results lists of the 38th FIL Junior World Championships 2023 in Bludenz (AUT) please follow the link below: https://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/5th-junior-world-cup-2