From Igls, AUT
(December 17, 2023) – There’s something about the track just outside of Innsbruck that suits Lisa Buckwitz very, very well. The German brakewoman turned pilot has won every women’s monobob World Cup race she has entered there, and now has a two-woman bobsled gold medal to her credit as she slid to a .09 second victory in Igls.
Buckwitz, who hadn’t trailed in a heat all weekend across the first two monobob races, once again led after the first heat. This time it was Kim Kalicki in her mirror by .08.
In the second run, Kalicki and brakewoman Leonie Fiebig set the fast start of the competition and finished their run with what was, to that point, the fastest downtime of the entire race.
Buckwitz answered. She and Venessa Mark set a competitive time off the start, and Buckwitz slid as well as she had all weekend on her way to a .01 second advantage in the heat for a victory of .09 over Kalicki.
Germany’s Laura Nolte had an issue at the start of her first run as she hit the wall prior to Curve 1. Her second run was clean from top to bottom and moved her up from fifth onto the podium with a bronze medal.
Bree Walker and Elana Meyers Taylor came into the second heat tied for third. Neither pilot could quite catch the Germans, who all had nearly flawless second drives. Walker eventually finished fourth for Australia, while Meyers Taylor finished sixth for the United States.
Wedged in between Walker and Meyers Taylor was Melanie Hasler. Hasler had two quick and clean runs to move up from sixth in the first heat to fifth.
For the United States, Kaysha Love had her first disappointing run of her World Cup career as a pilot. A bumpy first run left her in a tie for 13th. Her second push with Jestena Mattson was .06 quicker, and the drive was nearly four tenths quicker. That was enough to move the duo up to eighth.
Like Love, Cynthia Appiah had a few issues with her first run, but cleaned most all of that up. However Love’s drive was just a bit quicker and Appiah fell back behind Love. Both women were able to move up, with Appiah finishing in 12th.
Canada was able to place a slider in the top ten. Bianca Ribi put down two strong drives to finish ninth, a season-best finish in the two-seater, her second best ever finish in Europe.
Great Britain’s Nikki McSweeney made her second start on the World Cup tour as a pilot and finished 15th with Kya Placide on her brakes.
Two races into the two-woman bobsled season, Laura Nolte leads Kim Kalicki by five points in the overall standings. Lisa Buckwitz is third, 24 points out. Elana Meyers Taylor and Melanie Hasler round out the top five.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Buckwitz / Mark | GER | 13 | 5.52 | 5.52 | 52.60 | 52.60 | 1:45.20 |
| 2 | Kalicki / Fiebig | GER | 6 | 5.53 | 5.51 | 52.68 | 52.61 | 1:45.29 |
| 3 | Nolte / Schuten | GER | 7 | 5.56 | 5.59 | 52.91 | 52.73 | 1:45.64 |
| 4 | Walker / Reddingius | AUS | 10 | 5.61 | 5.59 | 52.90 | 52.82 | 1:45.72 |
| 5 | Hasler / Morell | SUI | 11 | 5.57 | 5.53 | 52.94 | 52.84 | 1:45.78 |
| 6 | Meyers Taylor / Jones | USA | 4 | 5.62 | 5.60 | 52.90 | 52.92 | 1:45.82 |
| 7 | Huai / Wang | CHN | 9 | 5.64 | 5.67 | 53.12 | 53.21 | 1:46.33 |
| 8 | Love / Mattson | USA | 12 | 5.67 | 5.61 | 53.41 | 53.03 | 1:46.44 |
| 9 | Ribi / Haughey | CAN | 15 | 5.68 | 5.66 | 53.22 | 53.24 | 1:46.46 |
| 10 | Ying / Wang | CHN | 14 | 5.70 | 5.70 | 53.32 | 53.18 | 1:46.50 |
| 11 | Grecu / Vlad | ROU | 5 | 5.72 | 5.69 | 53.30 | 53.21 | 1:46.51 |
| 12 | Appiah / Walkeden | CAN | 16 | 5.67 | 5.66 | 53.36 | 53.17 | 1:46.53 |
| 13 | Boch / Senechal | FRA | 8 | 5.72 | 5.72 | 53.33 | 53.28 | 1:46.61 |
| 14 | Beierl / Indruchova | AUT | 17 | 5.72 | 5.74 | 53.41 | 53.30 | 1:46.71 |
| 15 | McSweeney / Placide | GBR | 1 | 5.71 | 5.73 | 53.52 | 53.36 | 1:46.88 |
| 16 | Weiszewski / Zandecka | POL | 2 | 5.71 | 5.71 | 53.57 | 53.45 | 1:47.02 |
| 17 | Cernanska / Mokrasova | SVK | 3 | 5.92 | 5.92 | 53.89 | 53.74 | 1:47.63 |
| 18 | Andreutti / Vicenzino | ITA | 18 | 5.91 | 5.92 | 54.00 | 53.98 | 1:47.98 |
| 19 | Slupecka / Janus | POL | 19 | 6.02 | 6.03 | 54.60 | 54.66 | 1:49.26 |
