Gints Berzins, Verena Hofer, Upite/Kaluma and Rieder/Gufler win Nations Cup in Sigulda

Sigulda (FIL/23. Feb.2024) Verena Hofer, Gints Berzins, Anda Upite/Zane Kaluma and Ludwig Rieder/Lukas Gufler won the 8th FIL Nations Cup of the 2023/24 season on the only artificial ice track in the Baltic States.

Verena Hofer from Italy impressed with her second Nations Cup victory after Oberhof last weekend. The 22-year-old from South Tyrol won in 41.959 seconds ahead of Summer Britcher from the USA (+0.281 sec.) and team-mate Nina Zöggeler (ITA/+0.310). The two Italians Hofer and Zöggeler also lead the Nations Cup standings ahead of the final in Sigulda next weekend.

Gints Berzins took his third Nations Cup victory in a row after Oberhof and also won in Sigulda. With a time of 48.136 seconds and an impressive run, the 21-year-old local hero confidently secured first place in the men's competition and extended his lead in the overall Nations Cup standings. Svante Kohala was 39 hundredths of a second behind in second place and Anton Dukach from the Ukraine was 45 hundredths short of victory. Winner Berzins was delighted: "This is a perfect start to the World Cup weekend for me. The Nations Cup victory means starting number five for the World Cup on Sunday and that was my goal. Tomorrow, I have a day to sleep in, recover, prepare my sled and prepare perfectly for the World Cup race on Sunday."

Ludwig Rieder and Lukas Gufler extended their lead in the 2023/2024 Nations Cup with their second Nations Cup victory in a row. The two Italians won with the best start time and a running time of 42.292 seconds. Ludwig Rieder has also held the start record (1.502 seconds) at the doubles start in Sigulda since January 14, 2023, with his former doubles partner Patrick Rastner. Rastner now works as a coach for the Italian team.

Just three hundredths of a second slower were the young Chinese double of Saikeyi Jubayi and Shuo Hou in second place, taking the first medal in the men's doubles for China ahead of Tomas Vavercak and Matej Zmij from Slovakia ((+0.092 sec.). "Sigulda is a very challenging track, but we had a good run and are very happy about the medal in the Nations Cup," said a delighted Saikeyi Jubayi. His team-mate Shuo Hou added: "We are well prepared and will go into the World Cup tomorrow with bib number two. We want to show two more good runs there".

The two Latvian women's doubles Anda Upite/Zane Kaluma (in 42.895) and Viktorija Ziedina/Selina Zvilna (42.951) were the fastest in the Nations Cup. The third team to qualify was Natasha Khytrenko/Viktoriia Koval from Ukraine. They will open the Women's Doubles World Cup on Saturday with the starting number one.

Detailed results and further information can be found at the following link: https://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/eberspaecher-world-cup-33