From La Plagne, FRA
Jan. 11, 2020 – It took just two races for Laura Nolte to find her way to the top of the IBSF World Cup podium.
The German rookie broke the track record in the first heat and had two of the three fastest runs of the day on her way to a .19 second victory over Canada’s Christine de Bruin in just her second World Cup start. Nolte had won bronze in her first event in Winterberg.
Prior to her starts on the World Cup, Nolte had won two gold medals and nine medals overall in her last 11 European Cup races.
Canada’s de Bruin put down two quick and clean runs but was beat at the start by over a tenth in each heat by the young German. Her silver matches a career best finish set twice before, with Lake Placid during the 2018/2019 season the most recent prior to La Plagne.
Germany put two sleds on the podium, with Stephanie Schneider finishing in the bronze medal position, .01 behind de Bruin and .15 ahead of American Kaillie Humphries, who finished fourth for the second straight week.
Humphries’ two wins and two fourth place finishes keep her atop the IBSF World Cup leaderboard, seven points ahead of Schneider.
Olympic gold medalist Mariama Jamanka finished fifth, well ahead of France’s Margot Boch in sixth in her World Cup debut.
Mica McNeill finished eighth in the lone British sled in the field, .01 behind An Vannieuwenhuyse.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Nolte / Levi | GER | 4 | 6.41 | 6.35 | 60.67 | 60.76 | 2:01.43 |
| 2 | de Bruin / Bujnowski | CAN | 5 | 6.56 | 6.54 | 60.72 | 60.92 | 2:01.64 |
| 3 | Schneider / Fiebig | GER | 13 | 6.40 | 6.35 | 60.91 | 60.74 | 2:01.65 |
| 4 | Humphries / Gibbs | USA | 8 | 6.48 | 6.45 | 60.93 | 60.87 | 2:01.80 |
| 5 | Jamanka / Drazek | GER | 12 | 6.42 | 6.44 | 60.94 | 60.93 | 2:01.87 |
| 6 | Boch / Senechal | FRA | 1 | 6.61 | 6.63 | 61.14 | 61.61 | 2:02.75 |
| 7 | Vannieuwenhuyse / Aerts | BEL | 6 | 6.70 | 6.67 | 61.48 | 61.28 | 2:02.76 |
| 8 | McNeill / Douglas | GBR | 2 | 6.74 | 6.70 | 61.38 | 61.48 | 2:02.86 |
| 9 | Beierl / Onasanya | AUT | 9 | 6.61 | 6.58 | 61.37 | 61.54 | 2:02.91 |
| 10 | Fontanive / Pasternack | SUI | 10 | 6.59 | 6.57 | 61.39 | 61.58 | 2:02.97 |
| 11 | Sergeeva / Mamedova | RUS | 11 | 6.54 | 6.55 | 61.50 | 61.51 | 2:03.01 |
| 12 | Chernykh / Shokshueva | RUS | 7 | 6.61 | 6.61 | 61.59 | 61.60 | 2:03.19 |
| 13 | Osipenko / Parfenova | RUS | 14 | 6.68 | 6.69 | 61.74 | 61.48 | 2:03.22 |
| 14 | Vicenzino / Schenk | ITA | 3 | 6.84 | 6.86 | 65.63 | 68.42 | 2:14.05 |
