The Latvian completed the 1.5-kilometer track in three minutes and 32.68 seconds, 10.09 seconds behind the best result owner, the home woman Nadine Fändriha.
The second best result was achieved by the Norwegian Tiril Udnes Veng, who lost 2.41 seconds to the host, while the Swedish Marta Rosenberg was 2.57 seconds behind Fendrich.
The Latvian was 23 hundredths of a second behind the owner of the 30th place, the Austrian Lisa Unterweger, who was the last to enter the next round of the competition.
Eiduka is the only representative of Latvia in this season’s “Tour de Ski” competition. It is not yet known whether the Latvian will complete the full tour.
The sprint finals are scheduled for 15:00 Latvian time, and will be broadcast live on the “Eurosport 2” television channel.
The first two stages of the competition, in which skiers compete in the freestyle sprint and the pursuit in the classic distance of ten kilometers skiing with a common start, take place in Vrystair. The third and fourth stages are planned on the German track in Oberstdorf, with skiers taking part in a ten-kilometer classic-style race with an individual start and a 20-kilometer pursuit in freestyle.
The final three stages are scheduled for the Italian track in Valdifème. On January 6, there will be a sprint race in the classic style, followed by a 15-kilometer race in the classic style with a common start. In the seventh stage, skiers will have a nine-kilometer distance in freestyle with an ascent to Chermis mountain.
As the overall leader of the World Cup in the U-23 age group, Eidukas started the tour in the green jersey, ahead of the closest follower, Norwegian Helena Marie Fossesholm, by 84 points. Fossesholm is not participating in the tour, but the next competitor Jasmina Kecher from Finland had 161 points less than Eiduka until Saturday. In the overall ranking, Eiduka was in the high 18th position.
Last year, both Raimo Vigants and Eiduka competed in this series, who in four stages entered the top 30 once, but a year earlier, Eiduka became the first skier from the Baltic States who participated in all stages of the tour.
This year, 71 skiers started the tour in the women’s competition.
In the previous season, the Norwegian Johannes Klebo and the Russian Natalia Nepryaeva became the “Tour de Ski” champions.
This season, Eiduka competed in the World Cup stages in Ruka, Lillehammer and Davos. She won the highest position – 11th – in the ten-kilometer freestyle competition in Lillehammer, also achieving the highest career result according to the International Skiing Federation (FIS) points.
“Tour de Ski” sprint competition qualification
| V | Sportswoman | Country | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Nadine Fendrich | Switzerland | 3:22.59 |
| 2. | Tirila Udnesa Come | Norway | +2.41 |
| 3. | Marta Rosenberga | Sweden | +2.57 |
| 4. | Anne Kalva | Norway | +2.89 |
| 5. | Frida Kashone | Sweden | +2.99 |
| 32. | Patricia Eiduk | Latvia | +10.09 |
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