Together with Kaparkalēju, Niks Saulītis, who started at the Lillehammer stage in December, will also make his debut, and the experienced Raimo Vīgants, who has already participated in the tour twice, will also participate. The participation of the country’s leading cross-country skier, Patricija Eidukas, in the “Tour de ski” will be clarified on Friday.
Lauris Kaparkalējs, who modestly started the season at the end of November in Ruka, confirmed already a week later at the second stage in Lillehammer with the 40th place in the sprint, that a great result and entry into the top 30 could be expected from the 21-year-old Latvian. The champion of the European Youth Olympic Festival, Kaparkalējs, also achieved this, in the middle of December in the third stage in Davos with the 25th qualifying time, becoming the first Latvian in the men’s competition who has reached the elimination rounds or quarterfinals at the World Cup sprint stage.
In the continuation of the competition, in his quarter-final skiing, Kaparkalējs finished fifth out of six competitors, leaving behind the Norwegian Howard Taugbola, who was in the top three eight times in the PK stages, who, admittedly, experienced a fall, and achieved Latvia’s highest result in the World Cup stages in the men’s competition – 23rd place.
“Tour de ski” this year will start with a sprint on December 28, which will be followed by three distances right there in Toblah – 15km with a mass start in the classic, 20km in freestyle with an interval start and 15km pursuit in the classic. Kaparkalejs has decided to participate in more than just the first day’s sprint. “I plan to start the first part of the “Tour de ski” in Toblach, respectively all the first four distances. I will definitely put the emphasis on sprinting again and try to fight for a place in the top thirty, which will not be easy to do,” says Kaparkalējs, the world junior champion in roller skiing who is “knocking” at the door of the world elite.
“After returning from Davos, I spent a week in Riga, finishing a couple of autumn semester assignments at the university, and then at the weekend I went to Otepi, where I did several training sessions on a very high-quality artificial snow circuit. I am currently coming to Madona, but already on December 26th we will fly to the PK stage in Toblah,” says Kaparkalējs, who has shown the best results in the sprint of the Baltic countries this season.