From Lillehammer, NOR
(January 9, 2025) – For the fifth time in six races this season, Germany swept the podium in the two-woman bobsled race. And for the fourth time this season, it was Laura Nolte coming out on top.
Nolte and brakewoman Leonie Kluwig took a .08 second lead over teammates Kim Kalicki and Leonie Fiebig after the first heat, with nearly the entire advantage coming from Nolte’s .05 better start.
Behind them, Lisa Buckwitz and Kira Lipperheide found themselves in a battle with Austria’s Kati Beiel and Switzerland’s Debora Annen, both of whom were within .11 of the third German sled.
In the second heat, Annen and brakewoman Mara Morell edged out teammates Melanie Hasler and Nadja Pasternack to secure fifth place, but were bumped out of the leader’s box a couple of minutes later by Beierl and brakewoman Christina Williams.
Buckwitz and Lipperheide matched their race-quickest 5.33 start in the second heat and nearly matched their first run downtime to take the lead from Beierl and secure a gold medal for Germany.
The best run of the second heat came from Kalicki. She and Feibig picked up their start time by .06 from their first run as Kalicki took the lead by .28 with Nolte still to go.
Nolte and Kluwig matched their first heat start, and Nolte had an otherwise clean run. The World Cup leader slowly came back to Kalicki throughout the run, but unfortunately for Kalicki the track was maybe a hundred meters too short, as Nolte took gold by .02, with Kalicki silver and Buckwitz bronze.
Beierl was fourth, .19 out of the medals, while Annen was fifth and Hasler sixth.
North America filled in the back half of the podium. Elana Meyers Taylor and Jasmine Jones were seventh, Canada’s Melissa Lotholz and Leah Walkeden were eighth, Kaysha Love and Lolo Jones ninth, and Kaillie Ambruster Humphries and Emily Renna rounded out the top ten.
Canada’s Cynthia Appiah and Skylar Sieben wound up 11th, while teammates Erica Voss and Eden Wilson crashed in their first heat run and finished 22nd.
USA’s Sylvia Hoffman and Bailey Golden were 14th, while Australia’s Sarah Blizzard and Ashleigh Werner were 20th.
That 20th place finish for Blizzard came at the expense of teammates Bree Walker and Kiara Reddingus, who crashed in the first heat and finished 21st.
Great Britain’s Adele Nicoll and Kya Placide were 13th for Great Britain.
With one race remaining in the 2024/2025 World Cup season, Nolte holds a commanding lead over Kalicki, while Buckwitz sits third, just behind Kalicki. Hasler, Meyers Taylor, and Armbruster Humphries round out the top six.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Nolte / Kluwig | GER | 5 | 5.38 | 5.38 | 52.11 | 52.29 | 1:44.40 |
| 2 | Kalicki / Fiebig | GER | 4 | 5.43 | 5.37 | 52.19 | 52.23 | 1:44.42 |
| 3 | Buckwitz / Lipperheide | GER | 12 | 5.33 | 5.33 | 52.34 | 52.36 | 1:44.70 |
| 4 | Beierl / Williams | AUT | 6 | 5.43 | 5.43 | 52.41 | 52.48 | 1:44.89 |
| 5 | Annen / Morell | SUI | 2 | 5.50 | 5.51 | 52.45 | 52.59 | 1:45.04 |
| 6 | Hasler / Pasternack | SUI | 8 | 5.41 | 5.41 | 52.50 | 52.65 | 1:45.15 |
| 7 | Meyers Taylor / J. Jones | USA | 10 | 5.47 | 5.47 | 52.47 | 52.71 | 1:45.18 |
| 8 | Lotholz / Walkeden | CAN | 14 | 5.46 | 5.45 | 52.52 | 52.69 | 1:45.21 |
| 9 | Love / L. Jones | USA | 11 | 5.41 | 5.42 | 52.56 | 52.68 | 1:45.24 |
| 10 | Armbruster Humphries / Renna | USA | 13 | 5.52 | 5.55 | 52.63 | 52.76 | 1:45.39 |
| 11 | Appiah / Sieben | CAN | 16 | 5.52 | 5.50 | 52.85 | 52.73 | 1:45.58 |
| 12 | Grecu / Vlad | ROU | 7 | 5.60 | 5.56 | 52.97 | 52.79 | 1:45.76 |
| 13 | Nicoll / Placide | GBR | 19 | 5.62 | 5.61 | 52.97 | 52.94 | 1:45.91 |
| 14 | Hoffman / Golden | USA | 17 | 5.48 | 5.59 | 52.94 | 53.04 | 1:45.98 |
| 15 | van Petegem / de Kler | BEL | 1 | 5.58 | 5.57 | 52.94 | 53.07 | 1:46.01 |
| 16 | Boch / Senechal | FRA | 9 | 5.56 | 5.56 | 52.98 | 53.10 | 1:46.08 |
| 17 | Weiszewski / Adamek | POL | 15 | 5.50 | 5.52 | 53.07 | 53.08 | 1:46.15 |
| 18 | Cernanska / Mokrasova | SVK | 18 | 5.70 | 5.71 | 53.17 | 53.02 | 1:46.19 |
| 19 | Ying / Lv | CHN | 21 | 5.72 | 5.74 | 53.44 | 53.37 | 1:46.81 |
| 20 | Blizzard / Werner | AUS | 20 | 5.72 | 5.72 | 53.52 | 53.38 | 1:46.90 |
| 21 | Walker / Reddingius | AUS | 3 | 5.43 | 54.55 | |||
| 22 | Voss / Wilson | CAN | 22 | 5.57 | 60.29 |