Latvia Caps Successful Weekend With Relay Gold

From Sigulda, LAT

(January 8, 2023) – It was a race weekend where Latvia won and won often as they took gold in all but the women’s luge event, where they won silver.

The weekend was capped by the Team Relay event, where the team of Elina Vitola, Kristers Aparjods, and the duo of Martins Bots and Roberts Plume cruised to a gold medal, breaking the track record in the process.

Vitola, who won silver in the women’s luge event on Saturday, got the team out to a strong start with the fastest run on the women’s side. Aparjods, who broke the track record twice in his win earlier in the day opened up a massive lead and Bots & Plume, winners of the doubles race, set a time that was quickest of the race up until that point.

All that stood between the Latvians and gold was the always tough German squad. Dajana Eitberger, winner of the women’s luge gold, hung with Vitola. Felix Loch dropped a quarter of a second to Aparjods, but was the second quickest in the men’s leg of the competition. Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt did close the gap a bit, but the track needed to be a few miles longer for them to completely overcome their deficit as Germany took silver.

The United States won their first relay medal of the season with a bronze. The team of Emily Sweeney, Tucker West and the team of Zack Digregorio and Sean Hollander was consistent throughout their three runs to finish third, just over .8 out of gold.

Italy finished fourth, ahead of Poland, Ukraine, and China.

Austria’s horrid luck in Sigulda continued into the relay, as Lisa Schulte crashed exiting Curve 15 and was not able to reach the paddle. The team was scored with a DNF.

Results: