Latvia’s Jēkabs Kalenda and Matīss Miknis finished eighth in the two-man bobsleigh competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, on Tuesday. The Latvian team concluded with a final run of seventh place, after a competition dominated by German teams.
Kalenda and Miknis began the competition on Monday with a ninth-place finish in the first heat. They improved to fourth in the second run, climbing three positions in the overall standings. However, a tenth-place result in Tuesday’s third heat dropped them to seventh, before ultimately finishing eighth overall after the fourth and final run.
The German duo of Johannes Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer secured the gold medal, achieving the fastest time in all four heats. According to results reported by TVNET Sports, Lochner and Fleischhauer finished 2.28 seconds ahead of the Latvian team. Fellow German teams claimed the second and third spots on the podium, continuing a strong tradition of German dominance in the sport. At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, German teams swept the podium in the two-man bobsleigh event.
Italy’s Francesco Friedrich and Alexander Schüller finished second 1.34 seconds behind the German winners. Another Italian team, Adam Amur and Alexander Schaller, placed third, trailing Lochner and Fleischhauer by 1.82 seconds. Kalenda and Miknis finished 2.98 seconds behind the gold medalists.
The Latvian team came within one-hundredth of a second of securing seventh place and were just eight-hundredths of a second away from a potential top-six finish.
Latvia also had two other teams competing: Oskars Ķibermanis and Miknis finished ninth, while Emīls Cipulis and Edgars Nemme placed 17th in the 26-team field.
Kalenda, competing in his first Olympics, expressed frustration with the track conditions following the second run, as reported by Apollo.lv. He noted difficulties in maintaining control in the upper portion of the course due to excessive ice buildup. “Vajag trases augšdaļu sakārtot, bet izskatās, ka tur visiem ir problēmas, tādēļ īsti nevaru sūdzēties,” Kalenda said to Latvian Television (LTV). He added that improvements were needed both in the start and throughout the run.
The Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics continue through February 22nd.