Brothers Andris and Juris Šics have won Latvia’s first medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics, earning silver in the men’s double luge event Feb. 17.

They recorded a total time of 1 minute, 22.969 seconds over two runs, just a bit more than a quarter of second slower than gold medalists Andreas and Wolfgang Linger of Austria, who finished with 1:22.705. The Lingers also are brothers.

The bronze medal went to Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch of Germany, according to results posted on the official Web site of the Winter Olympics, www.vancouver2010.com.

The Latvians ranked second after their first run in the event, which took place at the Whistler Sliding Centre in Canada’s province of British Columbia. Their time of 41.420 was .088 slower than that of the Austrians, who recorded a track record of 41.332.

The brothers Šics finished third in the second run with a time of 41.549, but held on to second place overall.

The 24-year-old Andris and the 26-year-old Juris are trained by Jānis Liepa. The Šics team finished seventh in the event during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

The Latvian double luge team of Oskars Gudramovičs and Pēteris Kalniņš was in 12th place after the first run.  Gudramovičs and Kalnīņš finished 13th in the second run, but held on to 12th place overall.

A total of 20 teams competed in the event.

Latvia did not go down without a fight as it lost its Feb. 16 preliminary round men’s ice hockey match against Russia during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Latvia’s only two goals in the 8-2 game came early in the third period off the sticks of Herberts Vasiļjevs and Ģirts Ankipāns, according to results posted on the official Web site of the Olympics, vancouver2010.com.

The Russians, among the teams favored to do well in the Olympics, had 45 shots on goal to Latvia’s 20.

Russia’s first goal was recorded at 2:38 into the first period. Danis Zaripov, assisted by Sergei Federov and Ilya Nikulin, scored against Latvia goalkeeper Edgars Masaļskis. Alexander Radulov, assisted by Federov and Dmitri Kalinin, and Alexander Ovechkin, aided by Alexander Semin, added two more goals before the end of the period.

At 3:18 into the second period, Russia upped the score to 4-0 on a power play. Evgeni Malkin scored with help from Maxim Afinogenov and Ilya Kovalchuk.

Latvia’s first response occurred a half-minute into the final period. Vasiļjevs, assisted by Aleksandrs Ņiživijs and Mārtiņš Cipulis, scored against Russian goalkeeper Evgeni Nabokov, making it 4-1.

But Russia answered with three more goals in quick succession. Goals were scored by Ovechkin, assisted by Pavel Datsyuk; Zaripov, assisted by Sergei Zinovyev; and Kovalchuk, aided by Malkin and Fedor Tyutin.

At 3:35 in the final period, Latvia’s Ankipāns made the score 7-2. He was helped by Jānis Sprukts and Mārtiņš Karsums.

With just a bit more than a minute left in the game, Russia’s Alexei Morozov capped the score at 8-2 with an assist from Andrei Markov.

The Latvians spent a total of 16 minutes in the penalty box compared to the Russians’ 10 minutes.

Latvia’s next game in the preliminary round is against the Czech Republic. The match is scheduled at 4:30 p.m. PST on Feb. 19 in Vancouver’s Canada Hockey Place.

Perhaps the most anticipated event for Latvian fans of the Winter Olympics—a preliminary round match between the men’s ice hockey teams of Latvia and Russia—gets under way the evening of Feb. 16 in Vancouver.

However, the hopes for Latvia are dim, according to the oddsmakers of several online sports betting sites.

The game will be Latvia’s first in the 2010 Olympic Games. Each of the 12 countries in the men’s ice hockey competition—including heavily favored Canada—start out in one of three preliminary round groups. Latvia, part of Group B, must play Russia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Oddsmaker.com has Latvia as the long shot. A USD 100 bet on Latvia winning the Group B preliminary round could yield a payout of USD 10,000—if the impossible were to happen. The question mark for Russia, according to BetUS, is the calibre of its defense.

According to Olympic rules, the 12 teams will be ranked after the preliminary round and the top four will advance to the quarter-finals. The remaining eight teams will have to compete for the other four spots in the quarter-finals.

The Latvia vs. Russia game begins at 9 p.m. PST in Canada Hockey Place in Vancouver.

Latvia is scheduled to play the Czech Republic on Feb. 19 and Slovakia on Feb. 20.