Kivil and Rajas have already performed successfully in the qualifications: Kivil achieved the seventh time, Rajas 20th in the heat. “Both rode above their FIS rating, which is a very good indicator,” praised coach Asko Saarepuu in a press release.
In his quarter-finals Rajas was in the game until the end, but finished the match in fourth place and remained a happy loser awaiting the races of his opponents. Kivil, who started in the subsequent quarterfinals, was also in a good position at the finish line, but in a tough race to the finish line she was narrowly behind German skier Lena Einsiedler. Overall, Kivil took 13th place, Rajas took 15th. According to the coach, Saarepuu can be satisfied with the result.
“It’s a real shame about Gerda’s quarter-finals, they finished in a photo finish. Even though we were almost out of the semi-finals, today’s women’s match was very positive,” Saarepuu assessed.
The men’s freestyle sprint ended unhappily for the Estonians. Toni Andree Saarepuu was the first to start in the qualifiers according to an excellent FIS point. While he could initially be satisfied with his run, having reached the finish line in 11th place, when he began to prepare for the quarter-finals, he discovered from the protocol that he had been assigned 48th place and a time of 15 seconds. . time penalty. The matter was discussed with the jury and it turned out that it was decided to punish Saarepuu for starting too early.
According to Toni’s coach, Asko Saarepuu, the 17-year-old skier had to pay very expensive school fees. “Toni knew the start time very precisely. Before leaving the pits he checked the time on the wall and everything worked until the starter asked him to be ready 20 seconds earlier. Toni got confused, he thought that something had changed and he therefore came out on the track 15 seconds before the correct starting time. We went to speak to the jury and analyzed the whole situation. The jury defended themselves by saying that they had told him three times not to go . But they actually told the next athlete, Toni didn’t hear it. The jury didn’t back down from their decision, there was nothing they could do,” the coach said.
The Estonians’ struggles did not end there. Daniel Varikov, who occupied the top ten in qualifying, fell on the final descent and reached the finish line on one ski. “An extremely unfortunate story,” Saarepuu said. “He arrived with good speed on the final descent, but in the corner he gave up a little, he fought to get back on the track, but he got his foot stuck behind a fence post. It knocked him to the ground with a big swing, causing him to fall the ski on the clamp, and he finished with one ski. However, he is very skilled and did not finish last, but finished 57th. But he would definitely have passed and we don’t know what could have happened.”
2024-01-29 07:12:20
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