Latvian Short Track Has Fewer Elite Skaters Even After Olympic Medal

The new World Tour season in short track, a form of speed skating on a short oval, begins this week in Vancouver, Canada. It is the first season for Latvia since Roberts Kruzbergs, from Ventspils, won a bronze medal at the Winter Olympics in Milan in February. It was a historic Latvian Olympic medal in this sport. However, the attention it generated has not been used to develop the sport, and the number of top-level skaters has fallen even further.

Karlis Kruzbergs, the medallist's brother and coach, spoke to the newspaper Diena. He says there was talk after the Games of opening a short track centre, but the plan was not carried out. In his assessment, the situation is not improving and is rather getting worse.

Several people have left the national team

Maris Janis Sternmanis, who last year skated in the men's relay alongside Roberts Kruzbergs and Reinis Berzins, has ended his career, as has Anna Jansone, the leading woman skater on the team. Lithuanian Agne Sereikaite, who coached in Jelgava and travelled with the national team, has also left Latvia. In Ventspils, interest among children has not visibly grown: during school visits, the response was unexpectedly weak.

Money and training

The state will award roughly 70 thousand euros as an Olympic prize for developing the sport. The Latvian Skating Association has promised that short track representatives will be able to use the funds fairly freely. Karlis Kruzbergs mentions lower-level international competitions in Jelgava and Ventspils as one option, with foreign skaters paying entry fees.

Because no agreement was reached on a training centre at the Daugava ice hall, Roberts Kruzbergs and Reinis Berzins train with the Polish national team group. Its new head coach is Canadian Anija Sara. Linards Reinis Laizans, the third adult-age short track skater, finished eighth at the 2025 World Junior Championships. For financial reasons he trains in Jelgava with the juniors.

Calendar and plans

World Tour stages are held in Vancouver and Montreal, and in late November and early December in Seoul, Shanghai and Beijing, which both Latvians will skip. The season ends in February in Gdansk and Tilburg. Karlis Kruzbergs says his brother plans to continue for at least four more years, until the Olympic Games in the French Alps. The coach has built the website Sorttreks.lv, with information about the national team, training for children and the history of short track in Latvia.