From Winterberg, GER
(March 1, 2024) – Germany’s women out-slid the rest of the field in the first two heats of two-woman bobsled on Friday as they effectively made it a three sled race for the medals.
Reigning world champions Kim Kalicki and Leonie Fiebig sled to the lead in the first heat, but only by a hundredth over teammates Lisa Buckwitz and Vanessa Mark, with Olympic gold medalists Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi in third just .04 behind the leaders.
In the second heat all three German teams kept close to each other, all within a tenth of a second, but still with a mix-up at the top of the leaderboard.
Nolte slid to a huge lead over anyone else who had gone in the second heat with only Bucktwitz and Kalicki to go. Buckwitz went next, and slid to the lead, just .04 ahead of Nolte.
Finally it was Kalicki’s turn for a second run, and despite an otherwise clean looking run the defending champion found herself in third, just .06 out of the lead.
Behind the three German sleds, Kaysha Love and Azaria Hill set the quick push in the second heat to double their first heat advantage over Australia’s Bree Walker and Kiara Reddingius from .01 to .02. The two teams are fourth and fifth overnight.
Elana Meyers Taylor and Emily Renna sit sixth entering the third run on Saturday, just a tenth out of fourth.
Great Britain’s Adele Nicoll and Kya Placide had a pair of top ten pushes coupled with two clean slides to sit seventh overnight in Nicoll’s first World Championships as a pilot.
Switzerland’s Melanie Hasler and Mara Morell moved up from tenth in the first heat to eighth overnight, .07 behind Nicoll.
Cynthia Appiah and Leah Walkeden sit ninth after two runs in Winterberg. The Canadian is only .01 ahead of teammates Bianca Ribi and Niamh Haughey, who sits tied with Andreea Grecu and Teodora Vlad in tenth.
Everyone in the top ten had at least one run under the old track record of 56.54 previously held by Anja Schneiderheinze (February 28, 2015)
Melissa Lotholz and Alex Klein finished the day in 19th place after a bumpy second run dropped them from 17th in the first heat to finish out the Canadian effort, while Riley Tejcek and Jasmine Jones finished the day one spot back in 20th in Tejcek’s first top level race of the season.
The third heat for the 2024 IBSF World Championships two-woman bobsled race is set for 2:30 PM local time, 8:30 AM eastern.
Standings After Two Heats:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Buckwitz / Mark | GER | 3 | 5.49 | 5.52 | 55.90 | 59.98 | 1:51.88 |
| 2 | Nolte / Levi | GER | 1 | 5.49 | 5.50 | 55.93 | 55.99 | 1:51.92 |
| 3 | Kalicki / Fiebig | GER | 2 | 5.48 | 5.48 | 55.89 | 56.05 | 1:51.94 |
| 4 | Love / Hill | USA | 11 | 5.52 | 5.46 | 56.37 | 56.23 | 1:52.60 |
| 5 | Walker / Reddingius | AUS | 9 | 5.58 | 5.57 | 56.38 | 56.24 | 1:52.62 |
| 6 | Meyers Taylor / Renna | USA | 7 | 5.54 | 5.56 | 56.41 | 56.29 | 1:52.70 |
| 7 | Nicoll / Placide | GBR | 18 | 5.62 | 5.67 | 56.57 | 56.48 | 1:53.05 |
| 8 | Hasler / Morell | SUI | 4 | 5.58 | 5.59 | 56.68 | 56.44 | 1:53.12 |
| 9 | Appiah / Walkeden | CAN | 10 | 5.60 | 5.58 | 56.67 | 56.52 | 1:53.19 |
| 10 | Ribi / Haughey | CAN | 15 | 5.67 | 5.67 | 56.69 | 56.51 | 1:53.20 |
| 10 | Grecu / Vlad | ROU | 8 | 5.68 | 5.67 | 56.68 | 56.52 | 1:53.20 |
| 12 | Beierl / Schenk | AUT | 5 | 5.67 | 5.69 | 56.59 | 56.67 | 1:53.26 |
| 13 | Boch / Senechal | FRA | 19 | 5.66 | 5.67 | 56.73 | 56.62 | 1:53.35 |
| 14 | Ying / Wang | CHN | 6 | 5.68 | 5.67 | 56.80 | 56.61 | 1:53.41 |
| 15 | Weiszewski / Zandecka | POL | 13 | 5.68 | 5.70 | 56.86 | 56.75 | 1:53.61 |
| 16 | Annen / Leuenberger | SUI | 17 | 5.78 | 5.79 | 56.93 | 56.82 | 1:53.75 |
| 17 | Cernanska / Mokrasova | SVK | 12 | 5.80 | 5.77 | 57.03 | 56.78 | 1:53.81 |
| 18 | Van Petegem / de Kler | BEL | 14 | 5.71 | 5.74 | 57.29 | 56.71 | 1:54.00 |
| 19 | Lotholz / Klein | CAN | 16 | 5.72 | 5.75 | 56.96 | 57.08 | 1:54.03 |
| 20 | Tejcek / Jones | USA | 20 | 5.73 | 5.76 | 57.27 | 57.04 | 1:54.31 |
| 21 | Blizzard / Johnson | AUS | 24 | 5.79 | 5.77 | 57.36 | 56.97 | 1:54.33 |
| 22 | Popoescu / Musulete | ROU | 21 | 5.91 | 5.90 | 57.76 | 57.20 | 1:54.96 |
| 23 | Haslwanter / Braun | AUT | 23 | 5.87 | 5.85 | 57.78 | 57.52 | 1:55.30 |
| 24 | Djolo / Doumpas | NED | 22 | 5.83 | 5.87 | 58.09 | 57.73 | 1:55.82 |
