From St. Moritz, SUI
(January 29, 2023) – Laura Nolte took a small overnight lead into the third run of women’s mononbob in St. Moritz, and despite a slightly bumpier fourth run held on to win her first world championship.
Nolte had a .27 lead over Olympic monobob silver medalist Kaillie Humphries after two runs in St. Moritz. On her third effort Nolte extended that lead out to nearly a half of a second.
On the fourth and final run Humprhies put down the quickest run of her World Championships. Nolte’s final run wasn’t as good as the one laid down by Humphries but was enough to hold off the American for her first ever world championship and just her third ever monobob gold medal.
All three gold medals in Nolte’s senior career have come this season. Afterward, she said that things were just clicking.
“I’m not quite sure why,” Nolte said. “But winning in Lake Placid gave me a real confidence boost. Winning on a track I’ve never raced monobob on without a great start time made me feel a little more comfortable. This year I’m also a much better driver than I was last year.”
For Humphries, the silver medal is another in a long line of medals at the IBSF World Championships. She’s now tallied ten World Championship medals between two-woman and monobob, with two more in the now-defunct team competition. She also continued a streak of World Championship medals in non-team events that stretch back to 2016.
Humphries had to overcome a few challenges between driving and other things that led to the silver medal.
“We made an equipment change from day one to day two with different runners,” Humphries said. “I wasn’t quite sure how they would go because I’ve never tested them in a race. I made a few mistakes driving-wise. I also rolled my ankle on the weigh scale yesterday after the race, so I really had to tape that up for Day Two. But I have a great support staff who helped me be ready for today.
Lisa Buckwitz had the fourth quickest run of the first heat, but her last three runs were enough to move her into third for a bronze medal.
Australia’s Bree Walker was third after the first heat, but couldn’t quite match the pace of the athletes ahead of her and finished fourth.
Kim Kalicki of Germany overcame a disappointing start to her race and rallied to move up to fifth on the strength of the fastest run of the competition in the fourth heat.
Rounding out the top six was Canada’s Cynthia Appiah who entered the final run in a tie for sixth, and held the position with a strong final run.
“I was making the same mistakes in all four runs coming out of Telephone into Shamrock,” Appiah said. “My hope was to minimize that tap. Most people had been taking that tap and were able to minimize the speed that they were losing but I just seemed to multiply it. To still be on the podium, I’m really excited. I wish I could have gotten a medal but I’m still learning.”
Canada’s Bianca Ribi moved up to ninth after starting the competition in tenth after the first heat. USA’s Nicole Vogt and Riley Compton finished 17th and 19th, respectively. All three of the North American women were quickest in their final heat.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 | Run 4 | Total |
| 1 | Laura Nolte | GER | 9 | 71.25 | 70.96 | 71.42 | 71.22 | 4:44.85 |
| 2 | Kaillie Humphries | USA | 10 | 71.25 | 71.23 | 71.63 | 71.14 | 4:45.25 |
| 3 | Lisa Buckwitz | GER | 4 | 71.66 | 71.04 | 71.69 | 71.18 | 4:45.57 |
| 4 | Breeana Walker | AUS | 3 | 71.59 | 71.24 | 71.70 | 71.24 | 4:45.77 |
| 5 | Kim Kalicki | GER | 7 | 71.89 | 71.70 | 71.87 | 71.11 | 4:46.57 |
| 6 | Cynthia Appiah | CAN | 8 | 71.86 | 71.65 | 72.00 | 71.27 | 4:46.78 |
| 7 | Melanie Hasler | SUI | 6 | 71.75 | 71.81 | 71.95 | 71.50 | 4:47.01 |
| 8 | Maureen Zimmer | GER | 14 | 71.80 | 71.91 | 72.10 | 71.36 | 4:47.17 |
| 9 | Bianca Ribi | CAN | 5 | 72.35 | 72.25 | 72.07 | 71.74 | 4:48.41 |
| 10 | Martina Fontanive | SUI | 7 | 72.32 | 72.27 | 72.46 | 71.77 | 4:48.82 |
| 11 | Mingming Huai | CHN | 15 | 72.63 | 72.37 | 72.69 | 71.99 | 4:49.68 |
| 12 | Viktoria Cernanska | SVK | 13 | 72.69 | 72.49 | 72.51 | 72.15 | 4:49.84 |
| 13 | Margot Boch | FRA | 19 | 72.55 | 72.63 | 72.69 | 72.30 | 4:50.17 |
| 13 | Andreea Grecu | ROU | 11 | 73.00 | 72.81 | 73.02 | 72.34 | 4:51.17 |
| 15 | Giada Andreutti | ITA | 20 | 73.07 | 72.90 | 73.38 | 72.40 | 4:51.75 |
| 16 | Georgeta Popescu | ROU | 16 | 73.24 | 73.38 | 72.94 | 73.46 | 4:53.02 |
| 17 | Nicole Vogt | USA | 2 | 73.39 | 73.55 | 73.72 | 72.95 | 4:53.61 |
| 18 | Linda Weiszewski | POL | 18 | 73.61 | 73.91 | 73.56 | 73.32 | 4:54.40 |
| 19 | Riley Compton | USA | 12 | 73.94 | 73.92 | 73.48 | 73.53 | 4:54.87 |
| DNS | Qing Ying | CHN | 1 | 72.38 | DNS |
