From Lillehammer, NOR
(January 27, 2024) – The breakout rookie season for Kaysha Love continued on Saturday as the American scored her second monobo gold of the 2023/2024 World Cup season, this time in Lillehammer.
Love set both the start record and track record in the first heat, well ahead of Bree Walker and Cynthia Appiah, who tied for second behind her. World Cup leader Lisa Buckwitz was outside of the provisional podium in fourth, with Romania’s Andreea Grecu in fifth after tying Love’s start record.
In the second heat Buckwitz flexed her muscles, lowering the start record as the first woman to push a sub-5.6 start with a 5.58. Her drive wasn’t perfect, but it was quick enough to take the lead with Walker, Appiah, and Love to go.
Walker was next up and while she was out-pushed by Buckwitz, she was able to make up that time and held off the German by a hundredth of a second. Afterward, Appiah couldn’t quite match the time set by either Walker or Buckwitz, as she fell behind Grecu but still was guaranteed a season-best top five finish.
The only slider left was Love. The American nearly matched Buckwitz’s push, and her second run was faster than anyone else had in either heat as she slid to her second gold medal by .42 over Walker.
Walker’s silver was the third of her career and sixth medal overall. She has yet to finish outside of the top five in World Cup monobob action.
The bronze for Buckwitz was her seventh career monobob World Cup medal and fourth straight this season.
Grecu and Appiah both had season-best finishes in fourth and fifth, respectively, while Laura Nolte took sixth in the second German sled.
Elana Meyers Taylor finished tenth in her first look at Lillehammer while Canada’s Bianca Ribi finished 12th in her first start on the 1994 Olympic track.
With her bronze medal Lisa Buckwitz continues to lead the monobob World Cup standings after five races. Kaysha Love and Bree Walker are tied for second, with Love holding the tiebreaker. Laura Nolte and Melanie Hasler are fourth and fifth.
ResultS:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Kaysha Love | USA | 12 | 5.61 | 5.59 | 54.12 | 54.40 | 1:48.52 |
| 2 | Breeana Walker | AUS | 8 | 5.73 | 5.70 | 54.41 | 54.53 | 1:48.94 |
| 3 | Lisa Buckwtiz | GER | 5 | 5.62 | 5.58 | 54.44 | 54.51 | 1:48.95 |
| 4 | Andreea Grecu | ROU | 13 | 5.61 | 5.63 | 54.45 | 54.66 | 1:49.11 |
| 5 | Cynthia Appiah | CAN | 7 | 5.68 | 5.65 | 54.41 | 54.75 | 1:49.16 |
| 6 | Laura Nolte | GER | 6 | 5.74 | 5.68 | 54.55 | 54.66 | 1:49.21 |
| 7 | Qing Ying | CHN | 10 | 5.79 | 5.79 | 54.56 | 54.72 | 1:49.28 |
| 8 | Maureen Zimmer | GER | 3 | 5.63 | 5.64 | 54.50 | 54.89 | 1:49.39 |
| 9 | Melanie Hasler | SUI | 9 | 5.73 | 5.72 | 54.65 | 54.83 | 1:49.48 |
| 10 | Elana Meyers Taylor | USA | 11 | 5.80 | 5.76 | 54.67 | 54.88 | 1:49.55 |
| 11 | Katrin Beierl | AUT | 1 | 5.86 | 5.83 | 54.86 | 54.79 | 1:49.65 |
| 12 | Bianca Ribi | CAN | 14 | 5.84 | 5.82 | 54.83 | 55.03 | 1:49.86 |
| 13 | Margot Boch | FRA | 4 | 5.88 | 5.89 | 54.98 | 55.13 | 1:50.11 |
| 14 | Linda Weiszewski | POL | 15 | 5.82 | 5.86 | 55.10 | 55.49 | 1:50.59 |
| 15 | Adele Nicoll | GBR | 2 | 5.78 | 5.80 | 55.29 | 55.31 | 1:50.60 |
