From Altenberg, GER
(February 17, 2024) – It took a while before Laura Nolte had really felt like she’d gotten the hang of driving a women’s monobob sled. She’d won some races, then won gold at the 2023 World Championships in St. Moritz.
But this season, Nolte had been kept off the top of the podium, many times by teammate Lisa Buckwitz. In Altenberg, though, Nolte was golden once again.
Nolte trailed the United States’ Elana Meyers Taylor after the first heat as part of a four-way battle for the medals including Nolte and Andreea Grecu. In the second heat Nolte took the lead from Buckwitz with what looked to be one of the best runs of the day.
Meyers Taylor was the last woman off the top in search of her first career World Cup monobob gold. She pushed off well ahead of Nolte, but where Nolte was nearly flawless in the second run, Meyers Taylor was just a bit skiddy, and that was enough to give Nolte the gold medal, her first of the season.
Meyers Taylor held on for second place, .03 ahead of Buckwitz, for her first World Cup silver medal in monobob. She’d previously won a silver monobob medal in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
Buckwitz barely made her way into the medals with a bronze. She was fourth after the first heat and took the lead from Canada’s Cynthia Appiah. Grecu, third after the first heat, was ahead of the German late in her run, but crossed the line just .01 behind to finish fourth.
Canada’s Cynthia Appiah entered the second heat in seventh place after a bit of a bumpy ride down Altenberg. But her second slide was much cleaner and enough to move her into fifth, one spot ahead of Maureen Zimmer, who finished sixth.
Kaysha Love couldn’t find the magic she’d had on some other tracks this season but did finish tenth. Teammate Sylvia Hoffman, the 2022 Olympic two-woman bronze medal brakewoman, finished 16th in her World Cup debut as a pilot.
With one race to go in the IBSF World Cup season, Lisa Buckwitz leads Laura Nolte by 113 points, with Kaysha Love third. Bree Walker and Andreea Grecu round out the top five.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Laura Nolte | GER | 13 | 6.10 | 6.12 | 60.71 | 60.58 | 2:01.29 |
| 2 | Elana Meyers Taylor | USA | 4 | 6.05 | 6.04 | 60.45 | 61.07 | 2:01.52 |
| 3 | Lisa Buckwitz | GER | 6 | 6.04 | 6.00 | 60.79 | 60.76 | 2:01.55 |
| 4 | Andreea Grecu | ROU | 7 | 5.94 | 5.96 | 60.76 | 60.80 | 2:01.56 |
| 5 | Cynthia Appiah | CAN | 10 | 6.02 | 6.02 | 61.10 | 60.67 | 2:01.77 |
| 6 | Maureen Zimmer | GER | 12 | 6.02 | 6.05 | 61.04 | 60.88 | 2:01.92 |
| 7 | Breeana Walker | AUS | 11 | 6.14 | 6.12 | 61.43 | 60.55 | 2:01.98 |
| 8 | Katrin Beierl | AUT | 3 | 6.21 | 5.24 | 60.88 | 61.19 | 2:02.07 |
| 9 | Qing Ying | CHN | 8 | 6.18 | 6.18 | 61.90 | 60.91 | 2:02.81 |
| 10 | Kaysha Love | USA | 5 | 5.98 | 5.99 | 61.88 | 60.99 | 2:02.87 |
| 11 | Viktoria Cernanska | SVK | 1 | 6.48 | 6.45 | 61.23 | 61.68 | 2:02.91 |
| 12 | Debora Annen | SUI | 15 | 6.23 | 6.27 | 62.20 | 60.76 | 2:02.96 |
| 13 | Melanie Hasler | SUI | 9 | 6.13 | 6.11 | 61.73 | 61.30 | 2:03.03 |
| 14 | Bianca Ribi | CAN | 2 | 6.35 | 6.31 | 61.59 | 61.76 | 2:03.37 |
| 15 | Kelly van Petegem | BEL | 14 | 6.25 | 6.26 | 61.86 | 61.55 | 2:03.41 |
| 16 | Sylvia Hoffman | USA | 16 | 5.95 | 5.99 | 62.21 | 61.31 | 2:03.52 |
