The Latvian Luge Team finished fourth in the team relay at the Olympic Games on Thursday.
Gold was won by Germany, silver by Austria, and bronze by Italy.
Latvia finished 0.228 seconds behind the podium but ahead of the fifth-place USA team by just 0.027 seconds.
The Latvian team included silver medalist Elina Ieva Bota, Martins Bots / Roberts Plume, Kristers Aparjods, and Marta Robežniece / Kitija Bogdanova.
After her run, Bota was in the lead; however, her husband Bots and partner Plume made a mistake in their run, and at that moment, the Latvians were trailing the leaders — the USA team. Aparjods reduced the gap between the Latvian team and the Americans, and Robežniece / Bogdanova secured a result at the end of their run that ultimately brought fourth place.
However, the next three teams were significantly faster than the Latvian six.
The Germans outpaced the vice-champion Austrians by 0.542 seconds and the home team Italians by 0.849 seconds. Latvia lost to the winners by 1.077 seconds.
Nine countries participated in the team relay.
For fourth place in the Olympic team competition, a prize of 92,202 euros is awarded to all team members. This means 15,367 euros each.
