Baltic Cup Alpine Skiing: Slalom Wins Shared by Youngsters from All Three Baltic States

Slalom races in the Baltic Cup alpine skiing series took place on Saturday, 7 November, at the indoor Snow Arena hall in Lithuania. The series brings together skiers from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the U16, U14 and U12 youth age groups, as well as the Master category. Athletes from all three Baltic countries won events in slalom, but Latvians had the upper hand overall, both in numbers and in results.

The season began earlier this week in Druskininkai, where two FIS (International Ski Federation) slalom races were held on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Friday the youth and Master groups contested the first of three events this weekend, the super-G, with 140 skiers from five countries: the three Baltic states, Italy and Romania. Each youth group had 15 to 20 starters in the slalom.

U16 and U14

In U16, Estonian Andre Sari won for the second day running. Edvards Kapteinis-Veits overtook Mārtiņš Baumanis for second place after the second run. Among girls, Ella Andžāne won, with Emīlija Kliesta, Friday's winner, second. Laura Amerika reached the top three in both disciplines, while Martina Skudrule did not finish her first run.

In U14, Larno Kļaviņš won again, finishing one and a half seconds ahead of Lithuanian Mantas Kuliešius. Noels Dorš took third, while Rūdolfs Veigulis, second in the super-G, placed fourth. Maija Ciagune again won the girls' race by a wide margin, and Lithuanians took the next two places.

U12 and Master

In U12, Lithuania's Tadas Mikelionis won convincingly, with Estonian Matiass Lauks second. Armands Amerikas was the only Latvian on the boys' podium. Among girls, Laura Meldere won on both days, Kate Kalniņa was second and Emīlija Biezā third.

In the Master men's category the podium was unchanged: Arturs Kāršenieks won, Pauls Stēga was second and Lithuania's Vitautas Paražinskis third. Among women, Lithuania's Daiva Norvaišaite won, while super-G winner Ingrīda Sīpola finished second.