Although the last “Tour de ski” Patricija Eidukas was remembered by many for his excellent tactics and powerful finish in the 20 km pursuit, where he achieved the highest result in the World Cup stages – the 5th place, but last year’s tour did not start well for the leader of the Baltic states. In the first start in the freestyle sprint, Patricija finished in 32nd place, falling behind in the elimination round or quarterfinals, but in the second start in the pursuit she finished in 35th place, recalling the similarities with the 2021 season/ 2022. “Tour de ski” of 2020/2021, but completely opposite. tour of the year, in which Eiduka was in the top thirty at all stages.
This year’s “Tour de ski” started very well for the skier from Vecbebrem. For the second time in his career in the sprint, and again during the Tour de ski, he reached the semi-final, i.e. among the top twelve, and for the first time he entered the top ten in the sprint. And if you have been a little unlucky several times, this time luck has deservedly smiled and your experience and investment have also paid off.
On the last lap, as already mentioned, the 32nd time was set at the first start in the sprint, with only a quarter of a second left until the preliminary phase or the quarter-finals. This time, in qualifying for the sprint, I managed to push myself to the limit halfway through, but in the end I showed the 26th result: a time seven tenths slower, which is not that much in a sprint, would keep me in the lead. new out of the quarterfinals or top thirty.
This time Patricija had the best race in the quarterfinals, because it is one of the very rare times, if not the only time, where there are three (!) of the 25-30 qualified in one race. skiers who timed it (25th German Krėla, 26th Eiduka and 28th Italian Ganca). The contributing factor was the presence of Lynn Swann, as the Swede likes to drive very fast during the rounds. But you also have to be able to keep up. Thus, the fast race, thanks to Svana, and Eiduka’s ability to keep up, gave her the opportunity to reach the semi-finals with third place in the race as the second or last “lucky loser”. This third place in the race was achieved in a tough duel with the German Sophia Krehl, also helped by Patricia’s tactics and the experience accumulated in these two seasons at the highest levels. A two-tenths slower ski would put Patricia in 4th place in the race while the semi-finals went by the nose, finishing in 20th place overall (the slowest qualifier of all the quarter-finalists).
This competition proved once again that in sprinting every little nuance and even luck can play an important role, whether the participant is in the top ten, or twentieth or thirtieth. Here we can also remember the Beijing Olympic Games, where Raimo Vigant, after the impressive qualification in the quarterfinals, skiing alone, settled in sixth place in skiing and no higher than 28th place in the general classification, but then suddenly the Chinese collided with the Norwegian, and Raimo was already fourth in the race and 20th overall.
Even Eiduka itself does not deny the success factor. “Yes, I never thought in my life that I would be able to repeat the semi-final even once. Of course it is a great success story and in my case everything has to fit together for that to happen,” says Patricia, who achieved an excellent result.
Yesterday she skied very well tactically in the 10km classic and from 2.3km from the middle of the fifth tenth she moved up quickly, reaching twentieth at the end. Rarely has anyone climbed so much in the second half of the route, if only the German Coletta Ridzek surprised with the big climb of the last 2 km, even overtaking Patrizia. Once again the new tactic experimented by OS in Beijing has manifested itself: start more calmly and then accelerate. The fact that such tactics work is also recognized by Patricia herself, emphasizing that it is not so easy and has shades of her. “It’s true that this tactic works, but we have to admit that at the moment it doesn’t all come by itself and there aren’t many races in which you manage to drive the first kilometers at the limit, so as not to get caught or be too slow.”
Today is the third departure for the third consecutive day. And this time the program includes the successful pursuit of 20 km free style after the sprint and the 10 km classic in the last tour. Eiduka will start in seventeenth place (+1:22), just one second, or even at the same time, with the Austrian Teresa Stadtlober, with whom, and probably also the Swede Ebu Andersson, who started six seconds behind, they should then try to catch Krista Permekoski, Frida Karlsson and Heidi Vengu, so that in such a strong company, allowing the titleholders to “work”, he could gradually reduce the deficit with the leaders and catch other competitors, ultimately also trying to fight for a place in the top ten, from which she was separated only 11 seconds before the start.
Recall that last year Patricia started this 20 km run-up in a similar way: in 14th place, when she was 19 seconds from the top ten in terms of time, but there was a delay of more than half a minute compared to 5th place that Eiduka got in the end. The hunt for women will begin today at 1.30pm Latvian time.
2024-01-01 07:35:00
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