“We are happy about what we have done in the world championship and the medals we have achieved. Seven precious metals in one world championship – this is unprecedented for Latvia, and our athletes have made a great record in history,” said the head coach of the luge sports team, Zintis Šaicāns, who is in his first season in this position.
“But even after such success, I can’t hide that a little bitterness about the past championship still remains,” said the head coach of the national team, under whose supervision the Latvian athletes won five medals in the sprint competition, Anda Upīte and Zane Kaluma won silver in the women’s doubles, while in the team relay bronze was won.
“The leaders of our national team, usually the most stable athletes, did not fulfill their full potential,” explained Shaicans. “Krister (Aparijod) had an excellent ride, he would have been close, maybe even ahead of the leader from Germany, but then he made one micro-mistake, which already turned into a fall in the next corner. Elina (Vitola) and Candy (Aparjod) also had opportunities for a better result, the same goes for Robots (Roberts Plūme/Mārtiņš Bots). That’s sport, every mistake costs, everything is understandable, I’m just explaining why even after a historic WC with seven medals for Latvia, which would have been an unimaginable achievement recently, now I can honestly say that we could do better.”
Representing independent Latvia, Latvian athletes had previously won a total of 14 medals at the world championships in luge sports. 50% of the all-time total was now accomplished in one weekend. It cannot be called a huge surprise, because Latvian athletes, both this season and the previous season, are getting on the podium more and more regularly.
“Here I can agree 100% that our athletes have raised the bar very high, even unimaginably high,” said Shaicans. “With their previous successes, they have spoiled the fans and in a way also themselves. Now, for example, Elīna is fourth in the world, and there are almost questions about what worked and what didn’t. But how many times before that has a Latvian athlete been so high in the world championship? Therefore, absolutely – in the Latvian luge sport, the bar to be jumped has been raised very high.”
He spoke similarly about the bronze medal won in the team relay, evaluating the medal in the master’s race, but also not hiding that he wanted more and – most importantly – the national team could certainly have achieved more. Kristers Aparjod also participated in the relay, who had fallen on the track the day before, and not without physical consequences. He has a badly bruised neck, which the doctors will still work on this week, however, Shaicans was sure that Aparjods will start this weekend as well.
“I saw some opinions that Austria gave us a medal,” Šaičans said about the plight of the Austrian team, which had an otherwise excellent WC, in the relay, finishing only in sixth place. “I would like to say it differently. I would say that someone did not give us the bronze, but we gave the gold to Germany. Taking into account how our sled slid and in what athletic shape our athletes were, with optimal races, we would definitely have fought against Germany for the gold.”
Germany’s victory in the team relay was one of three gold medals in nine events, with Austria leading the medal standings with four golds and nine medals in total. This is a big change compared to the WC of 2023, in which Germany won eight of the nine golds and 16 of the 27 available medals, and this year the WC was also held at the German circuit – Altenberg.
“Of course, there is dissatisfaction with the World Championship in the camp of the German national team,” said Shaican. “However, the athletes of the Austrian national team have worked properly and logically showed great competition. And of course, it is immeasurably pleasant that Latvia also intervened in the competition of these two luge sports superpowers, which in the end won the same number of medals as Germany (seven each).”
The luge athletes had a rest day on Monday, the team went on a trip together to catch their breath after the WC and get in the mood for the next competition. They will follow already this weekend, when the World Cup stage will take place there in Altenberg.
Although the world championship is the most important competition of the season and a conditional climax, this time it is even before the middle of the season – after the fourth of nine PK stages. There are still five stages left, and Šaicāns admitted that the successful conditioning of the athletes for the next starts after the WC has been a matter that has been discussed within the national team.
“Several of our athletes are in high places in the overall standings of the World Cup, which they will want to keep and even improve,” said the coach of the national team. “The last two stages of the season will be in Sigulda, and there is always a special motivation to prove oneself on one’s track. In addition, I am sure that there are still interesting battles to come, because after such a world championship, the German athletes will also be very motivated to take revenge by starting in the World Cup.”
Overall ranking of medals PČ2024VValstsZSBTotal 1.Austria43292.Germany32273.Latvia12474.Italy10015.USA01126.Switzerland0101
2024-01-30 05:48:00
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