Eiduks and Izāka post best results for Latvia at 100km World Championships in Spain
At the 100km World Championships in Ames, Spain, held in conditions ranging from cool to extreme heat, Kārlis Eiduks was the fastest of seven Latvian men while Lauma Izāka led the Latvian women, winning silver in her age category.
The town of Ames in Spain hosted the World Championships in the 100km run, where athletes faced dramatically shifting weather. At the 8:30 start, the air temperature was 13 degrees Celsius, but within a few hours it climbed to as high as 35.2 degrees.
In the men's race, American Charlie Lawrence became world champion with a time of 6:09:25, falling just under four minutes short of the world record held by Lithuanian Aleksandr Sorokin. Sorokin himself finished second this time. In the women's race, American Courtney Olsen took the win, finishing just over a minute ahead of Japan's Miho Nakata.
Latvian performance
Among the Latvian team, Norway-based Kārlis Eiduks was the fastest, crossing the line in 7:12:46 to place 39th. The other six Latvian men also finished within eight hours: Mārtiņš Strušels, Oļegs Gurejevs (who also took 4th in his age group), Aijens Trušins, Kristaps Čehovičs and Dairis Mocāns.
In the women's race, Lauma Izāka posted the best Latvian result, finishing in 8:23:46 for 35th place overall and a silver medal in her age category. Monta Rēriha, Saiva Pallo and Vita Devjatņikova also completed the distance.
In the team standings, based on the combined times of each country's three best finishers, Latvia's men placed 15th among 24 nations, while the women placed 12th among 15 teams. Three Latvian athletes did not finish the race due to health issues.
Latvia last competed at the 100km World Championships in 2022 in Berlin. Just a week before this year's championship, Toms Komass improved Latvia's men's national record, which had stood for more than three decades, at a competition in Germany.
