2018 EFPM SPIRIT AWARD

At the beginning of the Nation's Cup in Calgary, Canada, on December 7, 2017, Indian luger Shiva Keshavan realized that he would not be able to compete due to break of his luge during his previous performance. Since this competition represented the Olympic qualification for Winter Olympics PyeongChang 2018, Keshavan had no other option but to give up competing, which could mean a farewell to the ambition to get the sixth performance at the Winter Olympics. But the depressed Indian luger was then approached by the Croatian luger Daria Obratov who offered him to use her luge for the performance. Although female luge is smaller and fairly inadequate for male lugers, Keshavan accepted the offer. He went down in Daria’s luge, took the 41st place in the competition of 43 athletes and the point he has won there helped him on his way to the sixth Olympic performance. Because of Daria competing during the award ceremony, the Trophy was presented to her coach by Kveta Peckova and Biserka Vrbek, EFPM Executive Board members, accompanied by Christian Hinterberger, EFPM President.

07.12.2018