Roberts Kruzbergs had dreamed of winning an Olympic medal for years. But the Latvian Short Track skater had to overcome drama, crashes and fierce competition before finally achieving that goal at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

It all eventually came together on 14 February at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, in a stacked Final A featuring nine athletes due to advancements.

Among them were the 1500m world No.1 William Dandjinou of Canada, the 2022 1500m Olympic champion Hwang Daeheon of Korea, Liu Shaoang of China, who is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, the Milano Cortina 2026 500m champion Steven Dubois, and Jens van ‘t Wout of the Netherlands – the man of the moment, fresh from an amazing 1000m win at these Olympics. 

The skater from Ventspils, improving season on season, would showcase his cool head, raw fitness and brilliant race management to cut through the pack and step on to the podium.

Roberts Kruzbergs celebrates winning the bronze medal after competing in the Final A of the Short Track Men's 1500m at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan, Italy. © Getty Images

Putting Latvia in contention for Short Track Olympic medals 

Kruzbergs has been on quite the journey. In a sport ruled by Korea, Canada, China and the Netherlands in recent history on the men’s side, he has led a fresh assault from the eastern European states. 

Often training in Poland alongside his great friend and fellow breakthrough racer Michal Niewinski, Kruzbergs has seen encouraging and pioneering results over the last few seasons. 

Kruzbergs became the first Short Track skater representing Latvia to finish on top of the podium at an ISU World Cup event in 2022, winning the 1000m in Montreal, Canada. 

“It’s a wonderful feeling to be the first one to do it,” he said back then. “Short Track is a small sport in Latvia, so me and my teammates train with the Polish team. It is difficult, most of the time I am not in Latvia and can’t see my family and friends, but a gold medal is worth it.

“I will call my mum and dad now, and they will be excited. They said, ‘Six years of World Cups and never a medal. When is it going to come?’ Now I can tell them I did it.”

Kruzbergs followed this up with several more medals on the ISU Short Track World Tour and in major championships. At the ISU Short Track European Championships 2026 in Tilburg, he claimed an impressive second place in the 1500m. 

It was clear that he was now equipped to compete for major honors. “I know I can do it,” he said. “I would like to win more medals but this sport is unpredictable. The results are growing. The ice, many laps, the gym, the bike - that’s the key.”

 Roberts Kruzbergs poses for a photo after Men’s 1500m Final A medal ceremony at the ISU Short Track European Championships 2026 in Tilburg, Netherlands. © ISU

A rocky road to the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic 1500m final 

All his resilience was needed at Milano Cortina 2026. In the quarter-finals, he showed that he was one to watch: Kruzbergs won his heat impressively, ahead of Thomas Nadalini of Italy and in-form Pole Felix Pigeon. 

The semi-final, meanwhile, was chaos: the Latvian was taken out by a tumbling Felix Roussel of Canada. Kruzbergs had to sweat on the official decision, but eventually it flashed up on the big screen: he was advanced to the A final.

For the showpiece race, Kruzbergs decided to bide his time, starting the opening laps at the back of the pack before moving forwards steadily. A crash took out Niall Treacy of Great Britain and Liu Shaoang. But Kruzbergs remained unfazed.

With two laps to go, he got past Dandjinou, the master of this distance all season, and held off the Canadian start to stay in medal position. Kruzbergs edged towards Hwang and van ‘t Wout on the final lap, and as the Dutchman raised his arms in ecstasy at his second Olympic gold, the Latvian did likewise to toast making history.

Emotional response to 1500m bronze

Post-race, he piled into the barriers to embrace his extended team, including Polish pals Pigeon and Niewinski.

“I think the emotions have not yet settled in, because it is so huge an achievement,” he said. “My teammate Michal is in tears. It is huge.”

Seeing other nations gleefully celebrating his achievement was extra special. “It is crazy to see everyone cheering for it. There are no sad faces, nobody is jealous. It’s an uplifting feeling, I’m so glad.”

Kruzbergs had his tactics sorted from the start, he said. “I was chatting with my teammate Reinis (Berzins) before the race and he said that the last 1500m final at the Olympics was pretty similar, there were lots of athletes also, and the race was won from the front.

“I went to the front, there were some crazy collisions, and luckily I didn’t catch them. So I’m super glad to represent Latvia and win bronze.”

It was a landmark moment for Latvian, and eastern European, Short Track. Still just 25 and with an ever-improving team, expect more to come from Kruzbergs and friends over the next few years.