Nolte Slides to St. Moritz Gold

From St. Moritz, SUI

(January 14, 2024) – Very rarely can a Laura Nolte victory be considered an “upset” win, but on Sunday Nolte came from behind to win on a track where a year ago she’d crashed out of World Championships.

Nolte and brakewoman Neele Schuten trailed German teammates Lisa Buckwitz and Lauryn Siebert by .06 after one run. In the second heat Nolte had what looked at points to be a bumpy run, but it was still enough to take the lead from Switzerland’s Melanie Hasler with a season’s fastest 1:08.00 downtime.

The final pilot down was Lisa Buckwitz, a woman who had won the previous four bobsled races between monobob and two-woman bobsled. Buckwitz’s slide looked to be cleaner than Nolte’s and she appeared to be on her way to a fifth straight gold medal. But Nolte’s final few curves were quicker than Buckwitz’s, and as Buckwitz crossed the finish line she found herself in second place, .08 back.

Nolte’s victory was the second two-woman bobsled win of her season and 13th of her career.

Hasler and Mara Morell improved their push by .04 and Hasler’s second drive was .63 quicker than her first on the way to a bronze medal, Switzerland’s second of the weekend.

France’s Margot Boch and Talia Solitude put together two clean starts and the second fastest top speed of the race on their way to a fourth place finish, the best ever for Boch.

Bree Walker and Kiara Reddingus of Australia moved up from sixth to finish fifth, while the United States’ Kaysha Love and Azaria Hill entered the second heat in a three-way tie for eighth, but slid their way up to sixth as the top American sled.

In the first heat, Love and Elana Meyers Taylor were part of a three-way tie for eighth with China’s Qing Ying. The second heat split them up, with Love in sixth, Meyers Taylor eighth, and Ying tied for ninth with Austria’s Kati Beierl.

The United States’ third pilot, Lauren Brzozowski, made her World Cup debut in two-woman and moved up one spot in the second heat to finish 18th.

The Canadians couldn’t seem to figure out the historic Swiss track. Bianca Ribi finished 14th, one spot ahead of teammate Cynthia Appiah in 15th.

Kim Kalicki finished the first heat in seventh, but got out of her sled with a limp. She only took a few steps on the start in the second heat with Leonie Fiebig doing the bulk of the work pushing. Despite that Kalicki finished ninth. Due to that Fiebig’s 17 straight podium finish streak was broken.

After three races on the two-woman bobsled World Cup calendar, Germany holds the top three spots with Laura Nolte ahead of Lisa Buckwitz and Kim Kalicki. Melanie Hasler moves to fourth, ahead of Bree Walker in fifth. USA’s Elana Meyers Taylor and Kaysha Love sit sixth and seventh, respectively.

Results: