Latvian seceletonists Krists Netlaus and Elvis Veinbergs took the 25th and 26th place in the first race in Austria in the eighth stage of the World Cup on Friday, unable to qualify for the second race.
Alexander Tretyakov from Russia showed the best time in the first race, which was 0.02 seconds ahead of Craig Thompson from Great Britain, but his compatriot Nikita Tregubov was 0.20 seconds behind. Netlaus showed the 21st fastest time at the start, but reached the finish in 25th place and lost 1.55 seconds to the leader. Immediately behind him was Weinberg, who was the 23rd fastest at the start, but reached the finish line 1.86 seconds behind Tretyakov. 26 athletes applied for the competition, but only 20 reached the second race.
In the sum of two races, the victory was won by Tretyakov, who was 0.23 seconds ahead of his closest follower Thompson. Samuel Maier from Austria won the bronze award, losing 0.27 seconds to the leader. Given that the leading athletes did not participate in this competition, Martin Dukurs was crowned the winner of the World Cup for the tenth time in his career, but his brother Thomas won the third place.
Even after the stage in Königszé, it was known that brothers Martin and Thomas Dukuri would not start in the last stage of the World Cup. Also, Latvian athletes from Austria will not start Andy Steel. Such a decision was made in the Latvian national team, because all three athletes mentioned above decided to go to Altenbergas ahead of time, where the world championship is expected in February. For this reason, Netlaus and Weinberg made their debut in the adult competition, who was crowned the vice-champion of the Uw20 World Championship in St. Moritz a week ago.
26 athletes have applied for the competition, but among them are also the leading German skeletonists Alexander Gasner, Christopher Groter and Felix Kaizinger. Leading Russian skeletonist Alexander Tretyakov is starting in Austria, as well as South Korean Sunbin Jun, who has only recently returned to the World Cup. During his career, Weinbergs has competed in the competition mode only three times on the Igls track, all in the European Cup. In 2018, he managed to rank 14th, but since then he has not been able to achieve a better result on this track. Last December, Weinbergs ranked fifth in the European Cup in Sigulda. This season, Weinberg also has one Intercontinental Cup or second-level strength race on the Altenberg track behind him, in which he ranked 12th.
Netlaus has not previously competed in the World Cup in his career. This season in Sigulda he managed to win the European Cup stage, but it has also been the only competition so far, apart from the world junior championship in Switzerland, where he won 11th place. During his career, Netlaus participated in several stages of the European Cup on the Iglesia track. The athlete achieved the best result in 2018, when he once ranked seventh, but once again eighth. M. Dukurs is the leader of the World Cup with 1456 points, he is followed by Aleksandrs Gasners from Germany with 1396 points, but Tomas Dukurs has managed to score 1226 points.
Meanwhile, in the ladies’ competition, the first trip is scheduled for 3 p.m., and the second – for 4:30 p.m. Latvian athlete Dārta Zunte will go to the track with number 16, but a total of 19 athletes have applied for the competition. Zunte took the place of Steel already in the Swiss stage in order to better prepare for the world junior and U-20 championship. In the junior classification, Zunte was ranked 12th, but among the U-20 athletes he showed the fifth best result.
Zunte made his debut in the World Cup on the St. Moritz track, ranking 20th. As the athlete’s coach Gints Dzērve previously told in a conversation with the agency LETA, Zunte was a little worried in the competition, so the athlete did not get the best start, but managed to reach the second race. Zunte also got acquainted with the Iglesia track through the European Cup competitions. She managed to achieve the best results in January last year, when she won the ninth and 11th place. Meanwhile, this season she won second place in the European Cup in Sigulda, but it was also her only prize this season.
The leader of the World Cup overall with 1485 points is Janine Floka from Austria, the German Tina Herman follows with 1339 points, but in the third place with 1321 points is her compatriot Jacqueline Lelling. This will be the last stage of the World Cup this season, but the World Championships are planned for the first half of February on the German track in Altenberg.
