Latvian short track runners do not manage to overcome the second round in the PK and 1500 meters distances

Latvian short track players Roberts Krūzbergs, Reinis Bērziņš and Anna Jansone failed to advance beyond the second round in the 1,500 and 500 meters in the Netherlands on Thursday.

In the first distance of 1,500 meters, Bērziņš and Krūzbergs were third in their skates in the first round, which allowed them to qualify for the quarterfinals, which included the three fastest shorts from each of the 14 skates. Krūzbergs finished in the first round in two minutes and 18,740 seconds, but Bērziņš – in two minutes and 19,607 seconds.

In the quarter-finals, Latvians were fourth in their skates, or place after the first three, who secured a place in the semi-finals. Krūzbergs skated the distance in two minutes and 14.462 seconds, 0.287 seconds behind the coveted semi-final, but Bērziņš finished in two minutes and 18.119 seconds, which was 0.104 seconds later than the athletes of the first three.

In turn, both Latvian shorts were third in the 500-meter preliminaries. Kruzberg was only three thousandths of a second behind the first two athletes, but qualified for the first round with a score of 41.228 seconds. Bērziņš lacked 0.028 seconds until the best of his skating and with a finish of 42,206 seconds was not enough to reach the next round.

In the fight for the quarterfinals, Krūzbergs was disqualified for a premature start.

Jansone was last in both skates in both distances, not qualifying for the next round. In the first lap of 1,500 meters, her finish time was two minutes and 39,822 seconds, and three times the shortest distance was 47,145 seconds.

During these distances, Latvian athletes will continue to compete in skating for places.