From Igls, AUT
(November 29, 2025) – They may have added a new technical piece to the bottom of the track in Igls, but it remains a track that if you can push well and drive clean on, you’ve set yourself up for success. And Kaysha Love did all of those things well as she slid to her first gold medal of the 2025/2026 World Cup season in Austria.
Love set a start record in the first heat, but trailed Australia’s Bree Walker after the first heat by .04, with German standouts Laura Nolte and Lisa Buckwitz both in the hunt for medals in third and fourth, respectively.
Buckwitz slid to the lead in the second heat with three to go after a push that matched Love’s record time. Teammate Nolte was next, and Nolte slid to the lead by .14 despite finding herself behind Buckwitz early in the run.
Love’s second effort was even better than her first. She lowered her start record another hundredth, down to 5.70, and became the first woman to slide below a 56 second time with a track record 55.97 to take the lead and put the pressure on Walker.
The second start for Walker wasn’t ideal, .09 off of her first heat start and .17 off of Love’s pace. The Aussie could not make up the ground lost at the top and fell to fourth as she crossed the finish line giving Love the victory and the Germans the remainder of the podium.
Love’s gold was her fourth in the single seater and ninth medal overall in the discipline.
Nolte took silver and Buckwitz bronze, Buckwitz’s first time ever not winning a World Cup gold in monobob in Igls.
Walker was fourth, ahead of Melissa Lotholz, who scored a career-best World Cup monobob finish in fifth. Youth Olympic champion Maja Voigt scored a World Cup career best in sixth.
Elana Meyers Taylor put down a strong second run to move up from tenth to eighth in the second heat. One of the women she picked off was teammate Kaillie Armbruster Humprhies, who fell behind Meyers Taylor by just .02 and finished ninth.
Kristen Bujnowski put down a pair of quick and clean runs on her way to a tenth place finish. Teammate Cynthia Appiah’s second effort saw her push .13 quicker at the top and put down a drive that was fourth quickest in the heat to move up from 20th in the first heat to 14th in the second.
Great Britain’s Adele Nicoll finished 19th as she continues to come back from a knee injury.
Two races into the World Cup monobob season and Kasha Love and Laura Nolte are tied at the top of the standings. Bree Walker sits third, with Lisa Buckwitz, Melissa Lotholz and Kaillie Humphries rounding out the top six.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Kaysha Love | USA | 11 | 5.71 | 5.70 | 56.05 | 55.97 | 1:52.02 |
| 2 | Laura Nolte | GER | 4 | 5.82 | 5.79 | 56.14 | 56.05 | 1:52.19 |
| 3 | Lisa Buckwitz | GER | 8 | 5.73 | 5.71 | 56.22 | 56.11 | 1:52.33 |
| 4 | Bree Walker | AUS | 9 | 5.78 | 5.87 | 56.01 | 56.34 | 1:52.35 |
| 5 | Melissa Lotholz | CAN | 5 | 5.87 | 5.85 | 56.31 | 56.33 | 1:52.64 |
| 6 | Maja Voigt | DEN | 10 | 5.77 | 5.77 | 56.37 | 56.28 | 1:52.65 |
| 7 | Melanie Hasler | SUI | 6 | 5.85 | 5.80 | 56.40 | 56.34 | 1:52.74 |
| 8 | Elana Meyers Taylor | USA | 20 | 5.92 | 5.93 | 56.51 | 56.29 | 1:52.80 |
| 9 | Kaillie Armbruster Humphries | USA | 12 | 5.94 | 5.93 | 56.43 | 56.39 | 1:52.82 |
| 10 | Kristen Bujnowski | CAN | 17 | 5.78 | 5.79 | 56.59 | 56.25 | 1:52.84 |
| 11 | Mingming Huai | CHN | 21 | 5.88 | 5.85 | 56.62 | 56.29 | 1:52.91 |
| 12 | Margot Boch | FRA | 13 | 5.98 | 5.95 | 56.60 | 56.32 | 1:52.92 |
| 13 | Katrin Beierl | AUT | 15 | 5.87 | 5.84 | 56.49 | 56.48 | 1:52.97 |
| 14 | Cynthia Appiah | CAN | 16 | 5.91 | 5.78 | 56.88 | 56.19 | 1:53.07 |
| 15 | Linda Weiszewski | POL | 18 | 5.89 | 5.88 | 56.68 | 56.42 | 1:53.10 |
| 16 | Debora Annen | SUI | 14 | 5.95 | 5.91 | 56.58 | 56.53 | 1:53.11 |
| 17 | Kim Kalicki | GER | 7 | 6.03 | 6.02 | 56.65 | 56.50 | 1:53.15 |
| 18 | Inola Blatty | SUI | 19 | 5.92 | 5.93 | 56.77 | 56.62 | 1:53.39 |
| 19 | Adele Nicoll | GBR | 22 | 6.00 | 5.99 | 56.73 | 56.70 | 1:53.43 |
| 20 | Qing Ying | CHN | 1 | 5.90 | 5.90 | 56.83 | 56.67 | 1:53.50 |
| 21 | Lea Haslwanter | AUT | 2 | 6.01 | 5.99 | 56.88 | 56.69 | 1:53.57 |
| 22 | Georgeta Popescu | ROU | 3 | 6.11 | 57.09 |