From Igls, AUT
(February 12, 2023) – The racing in Igls is always tight, and once again the track lent itself to some close racing and a come from behind win in the women’s bobsled race on Sunday.
Laura Nolte entered the second heat of competition in fourth place, behind leader Kaillie Humphries by just .07, with German teammate Kim Kalicki and Swiss pilot Melanie Hasler both wedged in between on the timing sheet.
On the second run Nolte lowered the track record to a 52.41 (from Humphries first heat time 52.70). She and Neele Schuten nearly hit the wall at the start, but her drive was good enough to put her into the lead with three to go. The Germans then watched as Hasler and Kalicki both fell in behind them, with Kalicki missing the lead by just .01.
All that was left was the team of Humphries and brakewoman Kaysha Love. The duo set the quick start of the competition with a 5.52. Her second drive wasn’t perfect, with just a few small wall-taps but that was enough to drop her not just out of the lead but out of the medals and into fourth place.
That gave Nolte gold, her second in women’s bobsled this season. World champions Kalicki and Leonie Fiebig finished second, .01 back, while Hasler and Nadja Pasternack finished with a bronze medal, only .07 out of the lead.
Humphries finished fourth, Lisa Buckwitz fifth, and Andreea Grecu sixth.
Canada’s Cynthia Appiah crashed through the labyrinth on her first run, but rallied back with a second run that was briefly a track record and remained the fourth quickest time ever in Igls.
Nicole Vogt scored another top ten with a tenth place finish, while teammate Riley Compton finished one spot back in 11th.
With one race left in the women’s bobsled World Cup season, Nolte holds a ten point lead over Kalicki. Humphries is third, 38 points out of the lead.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Nolte / Schuten | GER | 6 | 5.58 | 5.58 | 52.77 | 52.41 | 1:45.18 |
| 2 | Kalicki / Fiebig | GER | 12 | 5.54 | 5.54 | 52.72 | 52.47 | 1:45.19 |
| 3 | Hasler / Pasternack | SUI | 10 | 5.57 | 5.56 | 52.73 | 52.51 | 1:45.24 |
| 4 | Humphries / Love | USA | 8 | 5.55 | 5.52 | 52.70 | 52.61 | 1:45.31 |
| 5 | Buckwitz / Herrmann | GER | 7 | 5.58 | 5.57 | 52.89 | 52.62 | 1:45.51 |
| 6 | Grecu / Vlad | ROU | 5 | 5.76 | 5.75 | 53.17 | 52.87 | 1:46.04 |
| 7 | Ying / Wang | CHN | 13 | 5.69 | 5.70 | 53.09 | 53.00 | 1:46.09 |
| 8 | Huai / Wang | CHN | 11 | 5.67 | 5.64 | 53.16 | 53.03 | 1:46.19 |
| 9 | Appiah / Haughey | CAN | 4 | 5.60 | 5.59 | 53.69 | 52.53 | 1:46.22 |
| 10 | Vogt / Jones | USA | 9 | 5.76 | 5.74 | 53.39 | 53.17 | 1:46.56 |
| 11 | Compton / Renna | USA | 14 | 5.79 | 5.82 | 53.76 | 53.70 | 1:47.46 |
| 12 | Cernanska / Mokrasova | SVK | 3 | 5.95 | 5.93 | 53.96 | 53.51 | 1:47.47 |
| 13 | McSweeney / Fabunmi-Alade | GBR | 1 | 5.83 | 5.83 | 53.93 | 53.58 | 1:47.51 |
| DNS | Popescu / Sarbu | ROU | 2 | DNS |
