Latvia Wins Relay, Germany Wins Title

From St. Moritz, SUI

(January 23, 2022) – Latvia capped off a strong weekend of sliding in the Swiss alps with a gold medal in the luge Team Relay.

The Latvians had already won medals in men’s, women’s, and doubles luge and had placed a total of seven sleds in the top ten across the three disciplines. They sent out women’s luge bronze medalist Elina Vitola, men’s luge silver medalist Kristers Aparjods and doubles bronze medalists Martins Bots and Roberts Plume, and that team was quicker than anyone else on their way to a gold medal in the season finale.

Germany finished second, with Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken able to keep the Germans well ahead of Russia with a strong final leg.

Russia never really factored into the discussion for the top of the podium, starting a quarter of a second back and never closing that gap.

Italy finished fourth, while Ukraine finished a season-best fifth on the strength of a quick start by Olena Stetskiv.

Poland rounded out the top six.

Madeleine Egle was off-line at the finish of her run and missed the paddle, disqualifying Austria.

Austria’s disqualification handed the World Cup title to Germany, who won their 11th title in 12 seasons of Team Relay. Latvia finished the second in second, Austria finished third.

Results: