During the past weekend, February 4, winter sports enthusiasts and professionals, as well as spectators, gathered in snowy conditions Red Bull Glass Mountain challenging competition. The participants tested their endurance and dexterity by skiing 850 meters up, a vertical climb of 72 meters.
Similar to last year, the competition started with skiing at a distance of 450 meters, but only the most resistant went to the top of the Krimulda Serpentine (850 meters) – in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. This year, 28 participants participated in the competition, of which 20 participants in the People’s classes and 10 participants in the Sports classes, men’s classes were also more widely represented this year, however, not only Latvian cross-country skiers took part in the competition, but also representatives of this sport from Lithuania. To make the competition even more unique, it took place in the second half of the day, so the final skis were held on the serpentine illuminated track.
After passionate battles, this year’s winners were also determined – Madara Aldiņa won the first place in the women’s folk class, while Lauma Černievska took the second step of the podium. Latvian cross-country skiers Kitija Auziņa and Samanta Krampe competed for the first place in the sports class, but Kitija won the laurels, Samantha taking second place.
Aleksandrs Zilis was significantly faster in the Men’s People’s class, with a qualifying time of 1 minute 24 seconds, ahead of even 4 participants in the Sports class. Nils Mediņš is in second place, and Krišs Ozols is in third place. In the men’s sports class, Lauris Kaparkalējs took first place, Edijs Eiduks took second place and Rainers Paeglis took third place.
Last year’s fastest qualifying time of 1:14:60 set by Nika Saulīš remained unbeaten, while Lauris Kaparkalējas completed the 450m distance two tenths of a second slower.
