Vitality player Lotan "Spinx" Giladi reflected on his team’s performance in 2024. In an interview with eScoreNews, the Israeli esports player remarked that although the team struggled during the first season, they redeemed themselves by winning the IEM Cologne 2024 Championship in Germany.
“The first half of the year was tough for us. We were so close, yet so far from success. It was frustrating, and we talked about it a lot. We had decent results, reaching the semi-finals and finals. But at the same time, you go to tournaments for the trophies. If you reach five grand finals in a row, it doesn’t matter if you’re always second,” said Giladi.
“We said that if we could win Cologne, a Major, or another big tournament, we’d be able to say at the end of the year that we did well. Yes, we messed up a bit in the first half of the year. But it’s fine, we’re capable of making a comeback.”
Giladi also shared the moment when he realised he and his teammates had already won the IEM Cologne 2024 final.
“I play without shoes, just in socks. I knew that if we won, we’d need to go shake hands with the opponents and lift the trophy. And I didn’t want to do that in socks. So when I saw that we were in a 3v1 against Aleksib on Inferno, I didn’t say anything—I just put my shoes on. I knew that was the moment.”
IEM Cologne 2024 took place from the 7th to the 18th of August in Cologne, Germany, with 24 teams participating. The total prize pool for the event was $1 million. Vitality defeated NAVI in the final, and Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.