“I myself have a lot of uncertainty. Only after the first matches will I be able to answer what the balance of forces could be this season,” before the competition in a conversation with A day said the head coach of the Latvian national team Sandis Prūsis. In the summer, last season’s leading pilot Emils Tsipulis loves bobsled equipment. The burden of national team leader falls on 22-year-old Kalend. In the first competition, Jēkabs confirmed that he is ready to compete equally with pilots of the conditional second echelon.
As it could be predicted, the leading roles were played by the Germans on the home track, although the home team did not manage to take all the places on the podium in the four-man competition. The austrian crew with pilot Markus Traihl won shared second place with the four piloted by Johannes Lohner. The third German crew with the Amur brothers remained outside the podium, but the leading pilot of the last decade, Francesco Friedrich, remained unbeaten on both days. In the four-man competition, the distribution of places was resolute by the results of one race. On the first run, the crew of chinese pilot Kaiji Sun fell, and two pushers were taken to the nearest hospital. Since there was no longer a medical team on the track,the competition was stopped when seven crews had managed to start.Later it was decided to annul the results of the first race.
kalenda’s foursome with pushers Arni Bebriš, Lauri Kaufman and Mairi Kļava showed the eighth result in the start run, but took the sixth place in the division of places of the only race. In the doubles competition, Kalendas and Matīsa Mikni had the sixth and fifth results at the start stage, and the eighth and seventh results at the finish of the races, which gave them seventh place overall. On the challenging Altenberg track, Kalenda pleased with stable rides.
The Prussian revealed that before the competition he had set a goal to enter the top ten, so he is satisfied with what he achieved. The German crews rushed ahead of the other competitors already at the start stage. To raise the bar of achievements even higher, it is necessary to reduce the lag behind the leading crews in the start run.
After Kalenda’s triumphant performance in Altenberg, the continuation of the World Cup this week on the Sigulda track should be awaited with even greater interest.
Bobsleigh
PK stage 1 in Altenberg (Germany)
Twins 1. F. Friedrichs/S. Wolfe 1:48.67, 2. J.Lochner/G. Fleischhauer +0.41, 3. A.Amurs/I. Amur (all Germany) +0.81,..7. J.Kalenda/M. Miknis (Latvia) +1.80. 23 crews started.
Fours 1. Germany (F. Friedrichs) 54.17, 2./3. Austria (M. Traihl) +0.17, 2nd/3rd. Germany (J. Lohner) +0.17, ..6. Latvia +0.61. 17 crews started.
14.–15.XII PK in Sigulda (Latvia)