On Sunday, the Latvians started this distance from the quarter-finals of the consolation round, in which Kruzbergs won his race, but Reinis Bērzins went on with the decision of the judges. In the next phase, i.e. the fight for a place in the quarter-finals, both Latvians were in the same race, in which Bērzins won, while Kruzbergs won this round by decision of the judges.
In the quarter-finals of the basic competition, Kruzbergs won, while Bērziņš was fifth in his race, thus ending the competition in 19th place. Also in the semi-final skating, Kruzberg was the fastest and ended the first stage with participation in the A final.
In it, Kruseberg took the lead in the first laps, which was later passed to Dutchman Jens van’t Vout. The competitor did not give up the leading position and celebrated the victory with a finish in one minute and 23.379 seconds. Kruzberg lost 0.112 seconds, while the third was the Latvian teammate Michals Nevinskis, an athlete from the Polish national team, who was another 0.138 seconds behind.
It has already been reported that in the 1500 meter competition, Bērziņš was in the B final and ranked 14th, while Kruzbergs was the best of the athletes who did not make it to the semi-finals and ranked 15th. In 500 meters they were in 16th and 28th place respectively.
The World Tour, formerly known as the World Cup, will feature six stages this season. After the Montreal competition, on November 1-3, the athletes will compete in the US city of Salt Lake City, on December 6-8 – in Beijing, on December 13-15 – in Seoul, on February 7-9 – in the Dutch city of Tilburg, and on December 14-16 in February – in the home of the 2026 Olympic Games in the Italian city of Milan.
The winner of the team competition will receive the Crystal Globe of the International Skating Union (ISU).
The European Championship will take place on January 17-19 in the German city of Dresden, and the world championships will take place on March 14-16 in Beijing.
In the previous season, Bērziņš won a place on the podium from the Latvians, who won a bronze medal in the 1500-meter distance in the first stage. On the other hand, the 2022/2023 season for Kruzberg and Bērziņas was the best in their careers, as well as the most successful ever in the history of Latvian short track in the World Cup competitions.