Riga, January 17, LETA. The Latvian Olympic Games of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games have been allocated to Raimo Vīgants, Indulis Bikš, Patrīcija Eiduka, Kitija Auziņa, Estere Wolf and Samanta Krampe.
Roberts Slotiņš is the reserve for men, but Lauris Kaparkalējs and Edijs Eiduks are still in the reserve. Baiba Bendika and Annija Keita Sabule are included in the reserve for women, who, like Slotiņš, have the basic discipline in biathlon, but only Bendika will start in this sport in Beijing.
Thanks to Eiduka’s high-quality starts, Latvia has four quotas in the women’s competition and Bendika tried to win one of them, which on Monday publicly expressed dissatisfaction that it will not be possible to start in the 30-kilometer competition with a common start.
“To get there, I met the qualification criteria for skiing A, as well as the internal selection criteria developed by our own LSF, where I took a solid second place. However, the LSF decided not to give me the quota I won. selection criteria, writes Bendika on the social networking site Facebook.
She has also agreed to start the relay, because the International Ski Federation (FIS) was not ready to give Latvia a fifth quota or a separate “wild card” for the 30-kilometer distance.
“Anyway, this time it was preferred to take the young athlete on an excursion, who can’t win Annie in the direct fight. And my fight for a high place in the 30-kilometer start at LSF didn’t seem interesting this time,” Bendika continues.
Latvia’s leading biathlete will also be represented in cross-country skiing as a coach, as her student Bruna Moura from Brazil has earned a place in the Olympic Games.
As Puida explained to LETA, the LSF wanted the allocated quotas to be used to the full and for cross-country skiers to start as many distances as possible. Bendika, on the other hand, was ready to start only 30 kilometers away and possibly also in the relay, which has not convinced the ski federation. The relay for women is scheduled for February 12 – a holiday between sprinting and biathlon.
The Beijing Olympics will take place from February 4 to 20.
