Lisa Schulte, Kristers Aparjods and Wardrope/ Zajanski win the Nations Cup in Yanqing

Yanqing (FIL) Lisa Schulte (AUT), Kristers Aparjods (LAT) and the double Devin Wardrope / Cole Zajanski (CAN) won the first FIL Nations Cup of the 2021/22 season on Friday, 19 November 2021 at the Yanqing National Sliding Center in China.

On the new Olympic track for Beijing 2022, 20-year-old Lisa Schulte from Austria won in 59.429 seconds ahead of Germany's Anna Berreiter (+0.015) and US-American Emily Sweeney (+0.081). 46 Women's singles athletes competed in the FIL-Nations Cup to qualify for a starting place at the EBERSPÄCHER World Cup this weekend.

In the Men's singles, 23-year-old Latvian Kristers Aparjods made a successful comeback after breaking his leg during World Cup training in Oberhof a year ago.  With a time of 58.160 seconds the former Junior World champion won in front of the German Chris Eissler (+0.444). Riks Rozitis from Latvia came in third at the Nations Cup in Yanqing (+0.487).

There was a surprise in the doubles' Nations Cup. The young Canadian duo Devin Wardrope / Cole Anthony Zajanski won in 59.652 seconds just ahead of their experienced compatriots Tristan Walker / Justin Snith (+0.058). Poland's Wojciech Chmielewski / Jakub Kowalewski (+0.226) finished third, holding up a "Stay Strong" message to their team-mate Mateusz Sochowic, who had had an accident in training.
Wardrope was excited: “We knew if we could do a good run, we could be in the runnings. And so we did. It was a clean and nice run today and it turned up for us“. His 20-year-old doubles partner, also from Calgary, added: “The goal for the World Cup race on Saturday has to be to show two runs as good as today. We have to show consistency and concentration, then hopefully we will deliver our performance tomorrow”. Both were enthusiastic about the new Olympic track. The young Canadian Wardrope explains: “It’s our first time in China and it’s been amazing. We love the track here and the experience of the sliding. It’s a track unlike anything else, definitely one of a kind, something we had never slid on before. All the scenery here is special it is beautiful here”. 

The athletes qualify weekly for the finals of the EBERSPÄCHER World Cup on Saturday and Sunday via the Nations Cup, which is always held on Friday mornings in one run. The fastest twelve Women's singles and Doubles and the fastest 15 Men's singles of the last three World Cup races are seeded for the World Cup start and do not have to qualify via the Nations Cup. For them there will be the seeded training on Friday afternoon as the last run before the World Cup. 

Detailed results and further information on the 1st EBERSPÄCHER Luge World Cup of the 2021/22 season in Yanqing (CHN), on the Nations Cup and the trainings can be found under the following link:
https://www.fil-luge.org/en/multimedia/eberspaecher-world-cup-8