Latvian sledge riders Andris and Juris Schici won the fifth place in the World Luge Championship on the Oberhof track in Germany on Saturday, but maintained their leading position in the overall World Cup standings, and Mārtiņš Bots / Roberts Plūme took the 13th place.
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In the sum of two races, the victory was won by the Germans Tony Egerts / Sasha Beneken, who finished in the sum of two races per minute and 22,651 seconds. The second place was taken by another German duo Tobias Wendl / Tobias Arlts, 0.316 seconds behind their compatriots, and the best three were closed by the Italians Emanuel Rieders / Simon Caintswaldner, who lost 0.451 seconds.
In the first race, Bots / Plūme made a mistake in the middle of the track, but escaped the fall and completed the track in 42.13 seconds, 0.799 seconds behind the best result and taking only the 14th place after the first race.
Meanwhile, in the first race, Shicsi did not succeed in entering the first turn and the rest of the track could no longer recover the lost. Therefore, the Latvian duo took fifth place after the first trip, maintaining hopes of fighting for the podium. The Schitz brothers finished in 41.59 seconds and the leaders of the first race, the Germans Egert and Beneken, conceded 0.259 seconds.
Wendl / Arlt was in second place after the first race, giving way to his compatriots by 0.16 seconds, and Reeder / Caincwaldner took third place, who were 0.223 seconds behind the best.
In the second race, Bots / Plum drove without significant mistakes, which allowed to improve the position in the sum of two races. The Latvian crew finished in a minute and 23.78 seconds, 1.129 seconds behind the winners.
In the second race, the Shici brothers corrected a mistake they had made in the first race and finished in the sum of two races per minute and 23.143 seconds, losing 0.492 seconds to the winners.
Egerts / Benekens corrected the track record in the second race in 41.32 seconds, but Rīders / Kaincvaldners also improved the start record in the second race.
In the overall World Cup standings, including three Sprint Cup events, the Schitz brothers are still in the lead with 828 points, Egers / Benecken are 791 points down, and Wendl / Arlts are 711 points. Bots / Plum takes the ninth place with 449 points.
Shits last season was one of the best in their careers, as they won second place in the overall standings by conceding one of the Austrian Thomas Stoy / Lorenz Koller. They also had two victories, the European Championships in Sigulda and the sprint in Innsbruck.
For the new riders Bot / Plum, the 2020/2021 season was the breaking season, in which they were eighth overall. They put an end to the season with the first victory of their careers, finishing first on the St. Moritz track. Compared to the previous season, Oskars Gudramovičs / Pēteris Kalniņš is not starting this.
143 athletes from 25 countries have entered the eighth stage of the World Cup. There will be women on Sunday and there will be a team relay.
It has already been reported that on Saturday Kristers Aparjods took the ninth place in the men’s competition, Gints Bērziņš took the 14th place, and Artūrs Dārznieks – the 17th place.
The final of the World Cup and the European Championships will take place on January 22/23 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The culmination of the season will be from February 4 to 10, when the Olympic medals will be fought on the Yangtze River in Beijing.
