2024-07-22 06:02:33
In the men’s elite group, 34 athletes stepped on the starting line, and home Raimo Vīgant managed to win the victory in front of the home team with a time of 46:00.1. Italian athlete Riccardo Lorenzo Masiero finished second, half a second later, and Tomaso Dellagiacoma (+1.7) finished third. Sylvester Švaukst from Madon managed to break into the top ten, finishing in 8th position.
Raimo Vigants after the victory in the mass start: “It is a great pleasure that we managed to win the mass start this year. The ride was quite nervous, because the stick unfortunately broke in the middle of the distance, but with the help of the team, they managed to recover the good, comfortable stick during the lap, so not much time was lost. In the last finish, I tried to take a position to avoid someone in front falling, thus slowing me down, because the rain had made the corners quite dangerous, and it worked.”
In fierce competition, among 20 athletes, the second fastest time was shown by Latvia’s leading cross-country skier Patricija Eidukas (+2.1). The current overall ranking leader, Swedish Linna Semskara, managed to win at the finish line (49:03.6). The third place is the Italian athlete Maria Eugenija Bocardi (+3.3).
As P. Eiduka admitted after the finish: “It was very nice to start at home, which had not been possible for a long time – the supporters on the sides of the track definitely give motivation and encourage. Of course, I wanted to win and went for it the whole time of the trip, but this time it didn’t work out. From the very beginning, I tried to increase the pace, and I thought that a number of athletes would gradually fall away, and for a long time I managed to set the pace, however, the competition is fierce, and this time it was a bit lacking.”
A total of 22 athletes competed in the junior group, and the Swede Yonatans Lindberg (45:15.9), who has already reached the podium several times in this distance, the second and third Italian athletes – Tommaso Tozzi (+38.6) and Stefano Epis (+39.1) – won the laurels. . The best time of Latvian athletes – Jēkab Skolnieks from Sigulda, less than 42 seconds behind the leader. Indrikis Ints Circenis is also in the top ten.
In the junior women’s group today, 15 athletes performed in the 15km freestyle, with a mass start, and the best place among Latvian athletes was won by yesterday’s 200m super-sprint winner Linda Kaparkalėja, finishing in 11th place. Swedish athlete Johanna Holmberg won the laurels, Anna Maria Giddi from Italy came second, and Daria Kim, Kazakh athlete, came third.
In total, 6 Latvian athletes managed to win medals in the PK stage this year, in 4 competition days.
Distance with interval start 10km:
bronze award in the junior competition to Dāvi Kalniņš
Classic team sprint (2 x 3 x 1.7 km):
silver medal in the junior competition – to Dāvi Kalniņš and Jēkab Skolnieks
gold award in the elite group – to Raimo Vīgant and Lauris Kaparkalej
In the 200-meter super-sprint:
gold medal in the junior competition to Linda Kaparkalėja
bronze award in the junior competition to Dāvi Kalniņš
bronze award in the elite competition to Lauris Kaparkalej
20km mass start in freestyle:
gold medal in the elite competition to Raimo Vigant
silver award in the elite competition to Patricijas Eidukas
The second stage of the PK is from August 14-18 in Shchuchinsk, Kazakhstan, and the third, which will also be the World Championship, will take place from September 12-15 in Ziano Di Fiemme, Italy. The first World Cup in roller skiing was held in Latvia in 2004 – in Priekuli, but this year the tenth stage of the World Cup was held in Madona, and the world championship was organized in 2019.
2024-07-22 06:02:33