From Sigulda, LAT
(February 4, 2024) – Kim Kalicki was the race-winning pilot in the first of a rare double two-woman bobsled weekend on Friday. On Sunday, it was teammate Laura Nolte taking top honors ahead of Kalicki.
Nolte and brakewoman Neele Schuten slid to the lead after the first heat, .16 ahead of Kalicki and Anabel Galander. Tied for third were the teams of Lisa Buckwitz and Vanessa Mark and Switzerland’s Melanie Hasler and Mara Morell.
In the second heat, Hasler broke the tie with Buckwtiz by .04 to guarantee a Swiss medal and deny Germany a sweep of the podium.
Kalicki was next. Though she and Galander pushed off a hundredth slower, the duo finished their second run .04 quicker than their first effort to slide into the lead and give Germany at definite gold medal.
Nolte was the final pilot off the top, and her start matched her first effort. Unlike most of the teams who saw an improvement in their second run, Nolte’s second slide was nearly identical to her first. That was more than enough to win her third gold medal of the season, .29 ahead of Kalicki.
Kalicki’s silver medal was her third of the season and third straight medal on the year.
Hasler took bronze for her second medal of the 2023/2024 World Cup season.
Buckwtiz, who has had an outstanding season in both monobob and two-woman bobsled, missed out on a medal but finished fourth, just ahead of the United States’ Elana Meyers Taylor and brakewoman Azaria Hill in fifth.
Romania’s Andreea Grecu and Teodora Vlad rounded out the top six.
The race saw three of the 15 teams crash. Bree Walker was able to get across the finish line with Kiara Reddingius in the back and was credited with 13th, but both Kaysha Love and Adele Nicoll lost their brakewomen (Emily Renna and Kya Placide) and were disqualified.
Laura Nolte leads with two races to go in the IBSF World Cup season. Kim Kalicki and Lisa Buckwitz put all three Germans in the top three, with Melanie Hasler and Elana Meyers Taylor rounding out the top five.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Nolte / Schuten | GER | 9 | 5.32 | 5.32 | 50.77 | 50.76 | 1:41.53 |
| 2 | Kalicki / Galander | GER | 5 | 5.35 | 5.36 | 50.93 | 50.89 | 1:41.82 |
| 3 | Hasler / Morell | SUI | 4 | 5.38 | 5.34 | 51.11 | 50.95 | 1:42.06 |
| 4 | Buckwitz / Mark | GER | 10 | 5.27 | 5.26 | 51.11 | 50.99 | 1:42.10 |
| 5 | Meyers Taylor / Hill | USA | 11 | 5.35 | 5.35 | 51.30 | 51.11 | 1:42.41 |
| 6 | Grecu / Vlad | ROU | 14 | 5.45 | 5.41 | 51.55 | 51.13 | 1:42.68 |
| 7 | Beierl / Schenk | AUT | 7 | 5.54 | 5.53 | 51.56 | 51.25 | 1:42.81 |
| 8 | Ying / Wang | CHN | 6 | 5.47 | 5.52 | 51.53 | 51.29 | 1:42.82 |
| 9 | Ribi / Haughey | CAN | 1 | 5.50 | 5.48 | 51.54 | 51.39 | 1:42.93 |
| 10 | Appiah / Walkeden | CAN | 12 | 5.44 | 5.39 | 51.66 | 51.47 | 1:43.13 |
| 11 | Cernanska / Mokrasova | SVK | 3 | 5.65 | 5.60 | 51.72 | 51.49 | 1:43.21 |
| 12 | Weiszewski / Zandecka | POL | 15 | 5.49 | 5.47 | 51.69 | 51.59 | 1:43.28 |
| 13 | Walker / Reddingius | AUS | 8 | 5.43 | 5.43 | 51.41 | 52.91 | 1:44.32 |
| DSQ | Love / Renna | USA | 13 | 5.35 | 5.35 | 51.38 | DSQ | |
| DSQ | Nicoll / Placide | GBR | 2 | 5.40 | DSQ |
