Kristaps Zvejnieks (born 15 February 1992 in Riga) is an Alpine ski racer and inline Alpine slalom racer from Latvia. He competed for Latvia at the 2010 Winter Olympics.[1] He competed in slalom and giant slalom and his best result was a 37th place in the slalom.[2] He competes in FIS, CIT, EC and WC levels. He had his first World Cup start in Schladming on 24 January 2012.[3]

Kristaps Zvejnieks
Zvejnieks in September 2022
Personal information
Born (1992-02-15) 15 February 1992 (age 32)
Riga, Latvia
OccupationAlpine skier
Height185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Skiing career
DisciplinesDownhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, combined
ClubSK Virsotne
World Cup debut24 January, 2012
(age 20)
Websitesportadarbnica.lv
Olympics
Teams3 – (2010, 2014, 2018)
World Championships
Teams3 – (2011, 2013, 2015, )
Medal record
Men's alpine skiing
Representing  Latvia
Winter Universiade
Gold medal – first place 2017 Almaty Combined

Alpine skiing career

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He was born to Jana Zvejniece and Raivo Zvejnieks in Riga, Latvia, and grew up there. The closest ski area was in Sigulda, 60 km from his house. The biggest skiing slopes in Sigulda are Pilsētas trase, Kaķīškalns and Kordes trase, all more than 100 m above the sea level with a vertical drop of 80 – 90 m and length of 275 – 350 m.[4][5][6] He began skiing at three and racing at eight. In his first race he finished in 6th place. He made his first start in a World Cup event during the 2012 World Cup season in the slalom at Schladming.

2008 season

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Zvejnieks started his FIS career in Geilo, Norway, with a GS race on 6 December 2008, finishing in 65th position with 127.47 FIS points.[7] Two days later, he finished the slalom in 31st position with start number 141, gaining 78.89 FIS points in his first slalom FIS race.[8] In the whole season, Zvejnieks had 40 races and he achieved to 50.42 FIS points in slalom. This was the first season with his trainer, the former Austrian and Japanese Olympic coach, the Austrian Peter Prodinger. After his first FIS races he was added to the Latvia National ski A team.

2009 season

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On 16 July 2008, during the last training run in Mölltaler Gletscher, Austria, Zvejnieks crashed badly and broke his leg (fibula and tibia). He was determined to get back to skis as soon as possible, but it was too early. On 3 February 2009, he broke the same leg again. After several operations and a long time recovering, he began skiing again back in Mölltaler Gletcher on 14 October 2009.

2010 season

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Zvejnieks recorded his first FIS race podium and victory at Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic, in December with 39.10 FIS points. He qualified for the 2010 Winter Olympics on 26 January. In Vancouver, he competed in giant slalom and slalom disciplines. In giant slalom he finished in 62nd position,. In slalom he was 37th with +11.97 seconds from the leader Giuliano Razzoli. He was one of the youngest athletes to perform in Alpine skiing when he turned 18 years old during the Olympics.

2011 season

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Zvejnieks started with a podium in the Levi FIS race. He finished in third position with 33.66 FIS points.[9] During the season he had 47 races.

2012 season

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Zvejnieks started the 2012 season with 34.37 FIS points (567 in World ranking) in slalom. He made his first start in a World Cup slalom event at Schladming where he was disqualified for struggling a gate. Schladming seemed to be a turning point for Zvejnieks' success. He competed in many races and had great results. He moved down from 34.37 to 19.61 FIS Points in slalom at an Austrian Cup race in Gaal, where he finished 1st and 2nd in two-day races. He finished 1st in the German Junior race in Lenggries. At the end of the season he finished 2nd in the Norway National Championships with 14.55 FIS points.[10] He finished season 2011/2012 on 16 April in Finland with 15.84 FIS Points in Slalom (156 in World ranking).

2013 season

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In 2013 season Zvejnieks got his best FIS points, 12.41 (118 in World Ranking) in slalom discipline.

2014 season

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Zvejnieks started in Sochi winter Olympics. He got his best place in giant slalom discipline (43 place), but got disqualified in Slalom after a mistake. He didn't make any improvements in FIS points list in Slalom, but he got better points in giant slalom discipline.

2015 season

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In 2015 Zvejnieks started in 5 World Cup Slalom races, but did not qualify for Top 30. Zvejnieks got better FIS points in Slalom. For first he made his points up to 10.72 FIS points in FIS races in Chamonix, France, but in late 2015 season, in April, Zvejnieks made Latvia's best FIS points ever with moving up to 9.57 FIS points in Slalom, which gave him 66th place in World Ranking before 2016 season start.

Other sports and achievements

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Zvejnieks plays golf during summer time at GC Viesturi in Latvia. In May 2012, he started in the Ski & Golf World Championships in Zell am See, Austria, with the 4th best time in skiing.[11] As a better skier than golf player, he finished in 15th place overall in the men's professional group.[12]

He is overall winner of Latvian Cup 2008–2012, and Baltic Cup winner 2010–2012.

Zvejnieks was the inline Alpine slalom World Champion and World Cup overall winner in the 2012 Inline Alpine Slalom season.[13][14]

Inline Alpine slalom career

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Zvejnieks started inline Alpine as a part of ski training in summer. As a Latvian with the biggest mountain of 312 m above sea level, it was a good part of physical and psychological training for summer. He started to attend international European races in the 2005 season. In 2008, he won his first European Cup in Smiltene, Latvia.[15]

Alpine skiing career results

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FIS points at the end of the season

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Season Races
in season
Slalom Giant
slalom
Super G Downhill Combined
2008 40 50,42 86,89 72,97 104,55
2009 12 48,14 81.27 71,39 97,78
2010 41 38,99 57,54 60,55 72,53 115,25
2011 47 34,95 47,27 62,53 73,59 71,35
2012 47 15,84 31,49 58,59 69,62 42,04
2013 48 12,41 23,66 45,36 69,62 42,04
2014 43 12,41 16,85 45,36 83,25 62,65
2015 41 9,57 21,57 102,06 124,88 93,98

Individual FIS races

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  • 39 podiums −26 slalom, 2 super combined, 11 giant slalom,
Season Date Location Discipline Position FIS points
2010 20 Dec 2010 Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic Slalom 1 39,10
19 Jan 2010 Vratna, Slovakia Slalom 1 44,47
2011 27 Nov 2010 Levi, Finland Slalom 3 33,66
19 Dec 2010 Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic Giant slalom 2 51,44
20 Dec 2010 Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic Slalom 1 35,95
7 Jan 2011 Liptovska Teplicka, Slovakia Giant slalom 2 57,19
2012 20 Dec 2011 Solda, Italia Giant slalom 3 37,32
20 Jan 2012 Hafjell Olympiabakken, Norway Super combined 2 47,80
11 Feb 2012 Lenggries, Germany Slalom 1 25,53
12 Feb 2012 Gaal, Austria Slalom 1 17,13
25 Mar 2012 Hafjell Olympiabakken, Norway Slalom 2 14,55
2013 25 Jan 2013 Hafjell Olympiabakken, Norway Super Combined 2 52,21
11 Feb 2013 Wildhaus, Switzerland Slalom 3 15,61
14 Feb 2013 Schladming, Austria Giant slalom 2 22,36
13 Mar 2013 S. Valentino Alla Muta, Italia Slalom 3 22,51
13 Mar 2013 Vratna, Slovakia Giant slalom 2 34,95
14 Mar 2013 Vratna, Slovakia Giant slalom 1 31,83
28 Mar 2013 Jasna, Slovakia Giant slalom 3 31,90
4 Apr 2013 Kirovsk, Russia Slalom 3 11,30
5 Apr 2013 Kirovsk, Russia Slalom 2 13,51
2014 23 Nov 2013 Ruka, Finland Slalom 2 22,97
21 Mar 2014 Suomu, Finland Slalom 2 16,92
22 Mar 2014 Suomu, Finland Slalom 1 14,99
3 Apr 2014 Polyarny Zori, Russia Slalom 3 14,82
6 Apr 2014 Polyarny Zori, Russia Giant slalom 2 14,35
2015 27 Nov 2014 Pyha, Finland Giant slalom 3 26,58
28 Nov 2014 Pyhä, Finland Slalom 1 13,31
29 Nov 2014 Salla, Finland Slalom 1 16,37
5 Jan 2015 Chamonix, France Slalom 1 13,14
6 Jan 2015 Chamonix, France Slalom 3 17,42
7 Jan 2015 Chamonix, France Slalom 1 10,14
8 Jan 2015 Chamonix, France Slalom 1 11,30
20 Mar 2015 Pyhä, Finland Slalom 2 17,47
21 Mar 2015 Pyhä, Finland Slalom 1 18,38
30 Mar 2015 Kouty, Czech Republic Slalom 3 15,52
3 Apr 2015 Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic Giant slalom 1 19,28
9 Apr 2015 Polyarny Zory, Russia Slalom 1 9,00
10 Apr 2015 Polyarny Zory, Russia Slalom 2 17,05
11 Apr 2015 Polyarny Zory, Russia Giant slalom 3 23,86

Inline Alpine slalom career results

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World Cup races

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  • 32 races – 15 podiums,
Season Date Location Discipline Position
2011 5 Jun 2011 Genoa, Italia Slalom DNS
3 Jul 2011 Degmarn, Germany Slalom 5
9 Jul 2011 Tuttlingen, Germany Slalom DNS
13 Aug 2011 Neukirchen, Austria Slalom DNS
28 Aug 20111 Turnov, Czech Republic Slalom 1
11 Sep 2011 Nemcicky, Czech Republic Slalom 1
2012 17 Jun 2012 Turnov, Czech Republic Slalom 1
1 Jul 2012 Degmarn, Germany Slalom 5
15 Jul 2012 Sigulda, Latvia Slalom 2
18 Aug 2012 Chammunster, Germany Giant slalom DNQ2
19 Aug 2012 Chammunster, Germany Slalom 1
8 Sep 2012 Stenenbronn, Germany Slalom 2
2013 2 Jun 2013 Genova, Italy Slalom 1
9 Jun 2013 Oberhundem, Germany Slalom 1
23 Jun 2013 Jirkov, Czech Republic Slalom 1
13 Jul 2013 Tuttlingen, Germany Slalom 1
11 Aug 2013 Uttendorf, Austria Slalom DNF
8 Sep 2013 Nemcicky, Czech Republic Slalom 16
2014 17 May 2014 Steinenbron, Germany Slalom DNS
6 Jun 2014 Turnov, Czech Republic Slalom DNS
22 Jun 2014 Jirkov, Czech Republic Slalom DNS
6 Jul 2014 Degmarn, Germany Slalom 2
11 Sep 2014 Oberhundem, Germany Giant slalom 12
14 Sep 2014 Oberhundem, Germany Slalom 2
2015 21 Jun 2015 Jirkov, Czech Republic Slalom DNS
26 Jul 2015 Pisogne, Italy Slalom DNF
18 Aug 2015 Villablino, Spain Slalom 2
23 Aug 2015 Bramberg, Austria Slalom DNS
5 Sep 2015 Nemcicky, Czech Republic Slalom DNF
2016 5 Jun 2015 Unterensingen, Germany Slalom 3
19 Jun 2015 Turnov, Czech Republic Slalom 1
26 Jun 2015 Jirkov, Czech Republic Slalom DNS

[16]

Inline Alpine slalom season standings

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Season WC races Podiums Overall
2010 4 0 38
2011 3 2 5
2012 5 4 1
2013 6 4 1
2014 3 2 7
2015 3 1 12

References

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  1. ^ "Profile". Vancouver 2010. Archived from the original on 8 April 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  2. ^ "Men's Slalom results". Vancouver 2010. Archived from the original on 8 April 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  3. ^ "World Cup debut". FIS Alpine Ski World Cup. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  4. ^ "Pilsētas trase". Archived from the original on 28 October 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  5. ^ "Kaķīškalns". Retrieved 1 October 2012.[permanent dead link]
  6. ^ "Kordes trase". Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  7. ^ "FIS Giant Slalom race in Geilo results". Kristaps Zvejnieks results. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  8. ^ "FIS Slalom race in Geilo results". Kristaps Zvejnieks results. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  9. ^ "FIS race in Levi Results". FIS races 2011. Archived from the original on 23 September 2013. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  10. ^ "Norway National Championships in Slalom 2012 Results". Norway Alpine Skiing Championships 2012. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
  11. ^ "Ski&Golf World Championships 2012 Ski Results Overall" (PDF). Ski&Golf World Championships 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
  12. ^ "Ski&Golf World Championships 2012 Overall results PRO group Overall" (PDF). Ski&Golf World Championships 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2012.[permanent dead link]
  13. ^ "Inline Alpine World Championships 2012Results" (PDF). Cham 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
  14. ^ "Overall Standings Inline Alpine Slalom World Cup 2012" (PDF). Inline Alpine Slalom. Retrieved 2 October 2012.[permanent dead link]
  15. ^ "Inline Alpine European Cup in Smiltene, Latvia 2008 Results" (PDF). Inline Alpine Slalom. Retrieved 28 September 2012.[permanent dead link]
  16. ^ "Inline Alpine Slalom World Cup Results". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
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