From Lillehammer, NOR
(December 13, 2025) – Friday’s skeleton racing was as tight as you could ask for throughout every race. Saturday, Bree Walker decided that was enough of that and slid to a dominant victory in Norway.
Walker opened up a .14 second lead over Germany’s Lisa Buckwitz after the first heat, with Swiss pilot Melanie Hasler once again in contention for medals in third.
But it was Austrian Kati Beierl, who admittedly does not enjoy the single-seater sled, who made waves in the second heat. Beierl threw down a second downtime that nearly matched her first in a heat where most everyone else was struggling to find pace, and slid to the lead ahead of Canada’s Melissa Lotholz.
Beierl held that lead as Laura Nolte, Melanie Hasler, and Buckwitz all failed to match the Austrian’s two heat time.
But the track in Lillehammer very much suits Walker’s sliding style. A big push plus a smooth slide gave the Australian a .44 second victory over the Austrian, with Nolte third, .04 behind Beierl.
Hasler finished fourth, .08 out of the medals, while Buckwitz had a disastrous second run to fall from second to fifth. Lotholz slid from ninth to sixth.
It was a tough day in Lillehammer for the Americans. Kaillie Armbruster Humprhies slid to seventh place to lead the way for Team USA. Elana Meyers Taylor finished 12th and Kaysha Love 14th.
Cynthia Appiah was eighth to place two Canadian sleds in the top ten, while Kristen Bujnowski was 16th.
Adele Nicoll had an impressive second slide, the fifth quickest of the heat, to move up from 15th to 13th.
After three races on the IBSF monobob calendar, Laura Nolte leads the way over Bree Walker. Lisa Buckwitz sits third, Kaysha Love fourth, and Melissa Lotholz fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Bree Walker | AUS | 4 | 5.60 | 5.62 | 53.86 | 54.02 | 1:47.88 |
| 2 | Katrin Beierl | AUT | 7 | 5.65 | 5.66 | 54.14 | 54.18 | 1:48.32 |
| 3 | Laura Nolte | GER | 11 | 5.64 | 5.65 | 54.11 | 54.25 | 1:48.36 |
| 4 | Melanie Hasler | SUI | 10 | 5.64 | 5.65 | 54.06 | 54.38 | 1:48.44 |
| 5 | Lisa Buckwitz | GER | 6 | 5.55 | 5.54 | 54.00 | 54.48 | 1:48.48 |
| 6 | Melissa Lotholz | CAN | 9 | 5.66 | 5.68 | 54.28 | 54.22 | 1:48.50 |
| 7 | Kaillie Armbruster Humphries | USA | 8 | 5.74 | 5.72 | 54.20 | 54.31 | 1:48.51 |
| 8 | Cynthia Appiah | CAN | 1 | 5.60 | 5.60 | 54.23 | 54.31 | 1:48.54 |
| 9 | Debora Annen | SUI | 17 | 5.75 | 5.78 | 54.33 | 54.37 | 1:48.70 |
| 10 | Maja Voigt | DEN | 5 | 5.64 | 5.69 | 54.26 | 54.46 | 1:48.72 |
| 11 | Margot Boch | FRA | 12 | 5.75 | 5.73 | 54.34 | 54.40 | 1:48.74 |
| 12 | Elana Meyers Taylor | USA | 15 | 5.72 | 5.68 | 54.44 | 54.32 | 1:48.76 |
| 13 | Adele Nicoll | GBR | 20 | 5.75 | 5.72 | 54.49 | 54.28 | 1:48.77 |
| 14 | Kaysha Love | USA | 13 | 5.57 | 5.64 | 54.29 | 54.49 | 1:48.78 |
| 15 | Inola Blatty | SUI | 3 | 5.70 | 5.71 | 54.38 | 54.45 | 1:48.83 |
| 16 | Kristen Bujnowski | CAN | 14 | 5.64 | 5.63 | 54.52 | 54.47 | 1:48.99 |
| 17 | Linda Weiszewski | POL | 18 | 5.72 | 5.70 | 54.66 | 54.42 | 1:49.08 |
| 18 | Kim Kalicki | GER | 16 | 5.79 | 5.80 | 54.65 | 54.47 | 1:49.12 |
| 19 | Qing Ying | CHN | 19 | 5.71 | 5.77 | 54.57 | 54.61 | 1:49.18 |
| 20 | Mingming Huai | CHN | 2 | 5.69 | 5.69 | 54.54 | 54.68 | 1:49.22 |
| 21 | Patricia Tajcnarova | CZE | 21 | 5.80 | 54.80 |