Lotholz Clinches in NAC Title With Monobob Gold

From Lake Placid, USA

(March 6, 2024) – Melissa Lotholz sat out the 2022/2023 IBSF season, but came back strong this season with a slew of North American Cup medals. She capped her season by clinching the 2023/2024 NAC monbob title with a gold in Lake Placid.

Lotholz led Canadian teammates Kristen Bujnowski and Erica Voss after the first heat, with Korean Inyoung Park .04 out of the top three in fourth.

In the second run, Park leapfrogged Voss to move into the medals with Bujnowski and Lotholz still to come.

Bujnowski, the previous race’s gold medalist in Park City, held her spot with the quickest run of the heat to that point to solidify her third straight medal in monobob action.

Lotholz was the last woman off the top. For the second time in two runs she had the third quickest start of the race, and for the second time in two runs she had the quickest one-run time at the bottom to give her a .37 second victory over Bujnowski, with Park in third.

Lotholz’s gold was her fourth in five monobob races.

For Bujnowski, her silver was a best ever finish as a pilot in Lake Placid, while Park’s monobob bronze was her first ever medal in the single-seater.

Voss finished fourth, .21 out of the medals, while Mackenzie Stewart helped put all four Canadian sleds in the top five with a fifth place effort.

South Korea’s Yooran Kim finished sixth.

Riley Tejcek led the way for the United States in seventh place, with teammate Emily Bradley ninth in her first North American Cup start.

Between the two Americans was Germany’s Maureen Zimmer, who made her first career start in North America and finished eighth.

Youth Olympic Games silver medalist Agnese Campeol of Thailand made her first senior level start and finished tenth.

With one race left to go in the North American Cup, Lotholz has already wrapped up the season title. Erica Voss sits second, but has Riley Tejcek and Inyoung Park both in the hunt.

Results: