Latvian speed skater Roberts Kruzbergs has won his country's first ever Olympic medal in short track speed skating. The 24-year-old athlete won bronze at the 2026 Olympics in the 1,500m.
On Saturday, February 14, the grand final in the men's short track speed skating at a distance of 1500 m took place. Nine skaters took part in the fight for the medals of the 2026 Olympics, and the final ended in real drama.
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Latvian Roberts Kruzbergs started the race in last place. However, with four laps to go, he managed to move up to third place. All because of two consecutive collisions: first, three athletes fell during the race and were eliminated from the race, and then two more skaters collided and lost speed.
However, with one lap to go, Roberts was in fourth place and was battling for bronze with Korean Shin Dong-min. On the last lap, it was the 24-year-old Latvian who managed to win and take a historic third place. Kruzbergs was 0.157 seconds behind race leader Jens van't Voet.
Olympic Games-2026. Speed skating (short track 1500 m, men)
- Jens van't Voet (Netherlands) — 2:12.219 minutes
- Hwang Dae-Hon (Republic of Korea) — 2:12.304
- Roberts Kruzbergs (Latvia) — 2:12.376
This is the first-ever medal for the Latvian team in short track at the Winter Olympics. Before that, the Latvians' best result was a fifth place, which Kruzbergs took at the 2026 Games in the 1000 m distance.
“I'm the first to do it [win an Olympic medal in short track], and I'm not one to usually show strong emotions, but judging by the way my teammate celebrated for me, I realized that this was a huge achievement,” Kruzbergs said.
“I'm also really, really happy for my coach Gregory Durand because after the 1000m he cried and said it's not over. It gave me an incredible boost and I wanted to show him that yes, it's not over.”
Krusbergs reached the podium of a major tournament for the second time in 2026. In January, he finished with silver at the European Championships in the 1500m in Tilburg, Netherlands.