Klots Wins Para Sport Gold at Home in Sigulda

From Sigulda, LAT

(December 16, 2023) – Latvian Arturs Klots slid to gold on his home track in Sigulda as he held off a small but strong field of sliders behind him.

Klots had only a .01 second advantage over USA’s Robert Balk after the first heat. Behind them sat Canadian Lonnie Bissonnette and Great Britain’s Corie Mapp, both less than .2 behind.

As tends to happen with the Para Sport races, the order was mixed up in the second heat. Quick runs came form Hermann Allmauer of Austria and Switzerland’s Christopher Stewart, while the medal contenders coming into the second run faltered.

Klots, however, was consistently good. His two runs were the quickest of each heat and he took gold by .24 ahead of Balk for his first gold medal of the season.

Balk’s second run was only sixth quickest, but was still good enough to hold on to silver, while Ellmauer made the jump from eighth in the first heat to win bronze.

Mapp’s two runs were wildly consistent and he finished fourth, ahead of Steart in fifth with Spain’s Israel Blanco rounding out the top six.

Bisonnette had trouble late in his run and fell to seventh, while American Guillermo Castillo couldn’t quite get things going and finished eighth.

Gabriele Knapova and Austin Parker rounded out the ten sled field.

Results: