In the 1.1 km sprint competition in the International Ski Federation (FIS) roller skating competition held at Madona Sports and Recreation Center “Smeceres sils”, the Madonians took care of the victory, because the men were Niks Saulītis the fastest in the final, but Kitija Auziņa remained unbeaten for the women.
Last weekend, the cross-country skiing summer skating season started in Madona, as the well-known “Smeceres sila” track hosted the roller skating competition “Smeceres sila prize”, which also had FIS status and was organized by the association “Madis” in cooperation with the Latvian Ski Federation. . Adults, juniors and young people, as well as children aged ten and younger competed in the “Smeceres sila” award. In total, more than a hundred roller skiers from the three Baltic States gathered in all groups, the number of participants reaching 130.
This was one of the few times when the roller skiing competition in FIS status was not like the Latvian championship. As there was almost no snow in the winter and only one stage of the Latvian championship could be completed out of the three planned, as well as taking into account the emergency situation imposed in recent months, which negatively affected not only many people but also athletes, the competition was very necessary. That is why Gunārs Ikaunieks and Jānis Puids had the idea to organize the “Smeceres sila award”. This time, instead of the usual 200m sprint in the center of Madona, a 1.1km sprint took place on the “Smeceres sila” track, Ikauniekis explains it by the fact that the 200m sprint on Raina Street will be at the end of August within the World Cup stage. FIS technical delegate Jānis Puida praised the course of the competition and praised the intense fights of the participants, who reminded about the formation of the Latvian roller skating team and support for the best roller skiers, because the “Smeceres sila award” was the first selection competition.
In the men’s FIS group, 18 roller skiers aged 15 to 34 competed, all representing Latvia. Of these eighteen, the FIS code was for eleven rollers, so according to the rules, eleven participants took the place of the usual twelve in the elimination round, which began with the semi-finals. The results of the qualification showed that the men will be expected to compete for the victory, as the first three were in 0.8 seconds, but the first and fifth place was only separated by 2.3 seconds. However, the expected intense fights were missed, because last year’s bronze medal winner in the roller skating sprint world championship for juniors Niks Saulītis had gained a pretty big advantage by the beginning of the finish line – around 20-25m, thus celebrating a convincing victory and showing the absolute fastest time of the day – 1: 38.97 .
Meanwhile, Lauris Kaparkalējs, a 17-year-old from Madona, who showed the best time in the qualification (1: 44.62), was two seconds faster than in the qualification, but he could not be higher than the second place, being the best of the V18 age group in informal competition (2002- 2003). As last year in the Sigulda sprint, this time Edgars Bernāns was the third place, but if last year this award was a disappointment after the fall, moreover, in the competition of three participants, this time the third place in orienteering was success, because the Madonite finished close behind him. Ilvars Bisenieks and Bruno Krampe, the second best from Riga born in 2003. If Ilvaris, who won the 5th place in the junior sprint with the team in Saulīte in 2019, was expected to get the 4th place, then Bruno showed not only with the fifth place, but already with entering the final six, that he has progressed. For the third time qualifier Artūrs Brants, who is a 200m sprint specialist, in the finals in the long 1.1km sprint, he no longer had enough strength to fight for the prize, so Cēsis, who was in the eighth place in the World Championship and World Cup stages, finished in sixth place.
The competition for eight Latvian women was made up of three Estonians, among whom are the 19-year-old twin sisters Kaidi and Keidi Kāsiku, who both entered the thirty world championships in junior skiing in Germany this year, and last year at the European Youth Olympic Festival (EJOF) in Sarajevo. However, the Kāsika sisters did not manage to show such performance on the scooters as in winter, so they, although entering the final six without any difficulties, were unable to show resistance to our best representatives in the fight for victory.
Kitija Auziņa was convincingly the fastest in the qualification, who was six seconds ahead of Samantas Krampis, the 7-year-old from Riga. In the final, Kitty took the lead, but Samanta fought vigorously and was a little closer to the coach of the young Madonis than in the qualification, forcing Auziņa to give up all her strength. However, there was no doubt about the winner for a moment, and Kitty won a safe first place. If in the middle of February the Krampe took the 4th and 5th place in the FIS snow race on the “Smeceres sila” track, now she was not left without a prize, gaining a convincing second place. The trio was closed by Kaidu Kāsika, who in the winter in the junior world championship took 26th place in the 15km freestyle with a mass start (in the same distance where our Patricia Eiduka with 4th place achieved all the best results in Latvian junior championships, one second missing the medal – aut. note) and in 2019 was in the eighth sprint EJOF.
After the experienced failure in qualifying, Kima Krūmiņa started perfectly in the races, convincingly overcame the semi-final barrier, but took the 4th place in the final, leaving behind two Estonians – second sister Keidi Kāsika and Eva Marija Sāra and being the third best among Latvians. Although Marta Priede showed the 5th time in the qualification, Cēsis did not do a bit with the semi-final, thus remaining just behind the final in the 7th place (Marta remained fourth in her race, but was very likely to beat the Estonian Sarah, who showed the third time of the second semi-final race. had overtaken in qualification – aut. note).
Author: Ivars Bācis
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