From Lake Placid, USA
(March 8, 2025) – Kaysha Love leads the field in Lake Placid after two runs of the 2025 IBSF World Championships monobob event, but the racing is as tight as ever.
Love held a .15 second lead over two-time reigning monobob world champion Laura Nolte, with Canada’s Kristen Bujnowski in third, .17 back. In fourth, both Kati Beierl and Elana Meyers Taylor sat only .19 behind Love, making it anyone’s race after the first heat.
The second heat saw Beierl take the lead from Canada’s Cynthia Appiah, who threw down a blazing second run to move up the order from seventh into the top five. Meyers Taylor was next, and had another consistent run but fell in between Beierl and Appiah.
After Bujnowski couldn’t quite match her first run and fell behind her teammate, Nolte pushed off .08 quicker but couldn’t match Beierl’s combined time and fell in a quarter of a second behind the Austrian.
Finally it was Love’s turn to try to hold serve. The American was a bit slower off the top, but her second run matched her first and was enough to stay ahead of Beierl, but just by .02.
As the leader, Love will be the first slider off the top on Sunday, and is looking forward to the opportunity.
“I’m very excited,” she told the AP’s Tim Reynolds after the heat. “I think the third run makes or breaks the whole thing, and to be the first off I’m very excited about the opportunity!”
For Beierl, who has never been too thrilled to race in monobob, there may be some nerves on the start block for the third run.
“My best monobob result in World Cup is sixth place in a race where none of the Americans were racing! I have doubts about how I’ll sleep tonight! I’m going to take this challenge, but it’s crazy!”
Nolte knew she left some on the track, and can have a shot at gold if she cleans up a few things.
“I have to get the start like I did in the second run,” she said after the second heat. “I took four steps too few in the first heat and was much better in the second. Curves 2 and 3 are very important in monobob because they tend to break out very easily, and if I can fix that then I won’t have a problem tomorrow.”
Meyers Taylor sits fourth after two runs, only .02 behind Nolte, while Appiah is just .02 behind Meyers Taylor in fifth, with Bujnowski not too far back in sixth.
Kaillie Armbruster Humphries slid to ninth place after two heats, .06 behind Australia’s Bree Walker.
Melissa Lotholz sits 14th, one spot ahead of Adele Nicoll in 15th, while Spain’s Leanna Garcia is 19th in her first World Championships.
Standings After Two Runs
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Kaysha Love | USA | 5 | 5.82 | 5.89 | 59.50 | 59.49 | 1:58.99 |
| 2 | Katrin Beierl | AUT | 10 | 5.94 | 5.89 | 59.69 | 59.32 | 1:59.01 |
| 3 | Laura Nolte | GER | 2 | 5.96 | 5.88 | 59.65 | 59.59 | 1:59.24 |
| 4 | Elana Meyers Taylor | USA | 8 | 5.88 | 5.86 | 59.69 | 59.57 | 1:59.26 |
| 5 | Cynthia Appiah | CAN | 7 | 5.90 | 5.80 | 59.88 | 59.40 | 1:59.28 |
| 6 | Kristen Bujnowski | CAN | 17 | 5.80 | 5.85 | 59.67 | 59.75 | 1:59.42 |
| 7 | Lisa Buckwitz | GER | 1 | 5.87 | 5.81 | 59.84 | 59.65 | 1:59.49 |
| 8 | Breeana Walker | AUS | 3 | 6.03 | 5.97 | 59.97 | 59.74 | 1:59.71 |
| 9 | Kaillie Armbruster Humphries | USA | 11 | 6.02 | 6.03 | 59.90 | 59.87 | 1:59.77 |
| 10 | Margot Boch | FRA | 14 | 6.01 | 6.02 | 59.89 | 59.94 | 1:59.89 |
| 11 | Andreea Grecu | ROU | 9 | 5.91 | 5.88 | 59.93 | 60.05 | 1:59.97 |
| 12 | Debora Annen | SUI | 12 | 6.04 | 6.00 | 60.14 | 59.90 | 2:00.04 |
| 13 | Kim Kalicki | GER | 4 | 6.03 | 6.04 | 60.20 | 59.91 | 2:00.11 |
| 14 | Melissa Lotholz | CAN | 13 | 5.95 | 5.91 | 60.18 | 59.95 | 2:00.13 |
| 15 | Adele Nicoll | GBR | 15 | 6.05 | 6.02 | 60.60 | 60.47 | 2:01.07 |
| 16 | Yooran Kim | KOR | 20 | 6.21 | 6.22 | 60.49 | 60.69 | 2:01.18 |
| 17 | Patricia Tajcnarova | CZE | 16 | 6.14 | 6.06 | 61.17 | 60.48 | 2:01.65 |
| 18 | Sin-Rong Lin | TPE | 21 | 6.14 | 6.18 | 61.20 | 61.11 | 2:02.31 |
| 19 | Leanna Garcia | ESP | 22 | 6.29 | 6.26 | 61.52 | 61.04 | 2:02.56 |
| 20 | Adanna Johnson | JAM | 19 | 6.48 | 6.47 | 61.70 | 61.44 | 2:03.14 |
| 21 | Agnese Campeol | THA | 18 | 6.47 | 6.44 | 61.61 | 61.56 | 2:03.17 |
| DNS | Melanie Hasler | SUI | 6 | DNS |