The 27-year-old misses her fourth victory in the fourth World Cup race.
Without her top push athlete Deborah Levi, bobsleigh Olympic champion Laura Nolte suffered her first setback of the Olympic winter in the two-woman event. The 27-year-old from Winterberg finished only third in Sigulda, where American Kaillie Humphries took the day’s victory, missing her fourth success in the fourth World Cup race. Lisa Buckwitz from BRC Thüringen came in second.
Nolte, who is not a fan of the demanding track in Latvia and granted regular push athlete Levi an early Christmas break, was 0.28 seconds behind veteran Humphries (40) with Leonie Kluwig after two runs. For the three-time Olympic champion Humphries, it was her first World Cup victory in the two-woman event in almost three years. Buckwitz (+0.27), with Lauryn Siebert in the sled, relinquished her first season victory after a weak second run. Kim Kalicki (Wiesbaden/+0.40) finished sixth.
“I’m very happy that we still made it onto the podium,” said Nolte, who had gone into the second run in fourth place: “But the second run really wasn’t good at all. I thought twice we were going to crash. It was nothing at all.” Buckwitz said she was “super happy,” working her way up “piece by piece”: “That’s how you can go into the Christmas break.”
Nolte had finished second on Saturday in the monobob, where Australian Breeana Walker took the day’s victory. In the first three races of the season, she had triumphed quite clearly in the two-woman event with Levi. After the Christmas break, Nolte is once again considered the top favorite on her home track in Winterberg. The highlight of the season will be the Olympic Games in February in Cortina d’Ampezzo.