Latvia bobsledder withdraws after cruel twist of fate

From Sportsbeat staff, in Vancouver

 LATVIAN bobsleigh pilot Janis Minins, who recovered from emergency surgery to remove his appendix in a bid to compete in the four-man event, has now been forced to withdraw after injuries to his crew.

HARD DONE BY: Latvian bobsledder Janis Minins recovers from surgery but injuries to his crew means he has to withdraw (Getty Images)

The 29-year-old, second in the four-man World Cup standings for the past two seasons, was back in training in Whistler, just ten days after surgery on February 12, the day of the opening ceremony in Vancouver.

That forced him to miss the two-man event but he was back and raring to go for the four-man competition, only for injuries to hit Daumants Dreiskens and Oskars Melbardis in a cruel twist of fate.

Dreiskens has bruises on his legs and elbows while Melbardis has concussion after two crashes in five training runs.

The Latvian crew is not the first to pull out with the Dutch team also withdrawing after pilot Edwin van Calker admitted a loss of confidence at the controversial and lightning-fast track that witnessed the death of Georgian slider Nodar Kumaritashvili.

The Dutch team is coached by Tom De La Hunty, who competed for Great Britain at two Winter Olympics, and who was less than impressed by van Calker's decision to fly home.

Minins did not take part in the final two training runs and while he had completed the necessary number of practice runs to compete, the Latvian crew have taken the decision to withdraw.

"This morning, Janis Minins and his team decided that they will not take part in the four-man competition," confirmed a Latvian official.

"The reason was that Janis had five training runs on the track and two of them finished in a crash and two of his pushers have injuries.

"This morning they had a meeting and it was a very hard decision for them. But altogether they decided not to take part. Janis is OK. The team decided not to risk this track because they must race four times throughout the competition."

Minins was among the favourites in Vancouver, having won the Whistler World Cup in February, edging out World Cup leader Steven Holcomb of the USA.

In doing so he set the track record in Whistler of 50.97 seconds and the speed record of 153 km/h.

 

AS IT HAPPENS: Day 14 of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver