From Winterberg, GER
(January 3, 2026) – Germany’s Laura Nolte traditionally been very good in Winterberg, and showed that form again as she came from behind to win gold in the first race of the new year.
Nolte trailed teammate Lisa Buckwitz by .04 after the first heat, with Austria’s Kati Beierl in third and Canada’s Cynthia Appiah looking for a way onto the podium in fourth.
In the second heat, Appiah matched her quick start of the first heat and threw down a drive that would prove to be the quickest of the heat to take the lead from the United States’ Kaillie Armbruster Humpries. She then held that lead as Beierl put down a consistent run that just lacked a bit of speed from the midway point of her drive down and fell behind the Canadian.
Nolte was next. Like many in the field, her second downtime couldn’t match her first, but she had more than enough in the bank from her first heat to keep ahead of Appiah to guarantee Germany gold with only Buckwitz still to come.
The second start for Buckwitz was slow by her standards. After narrowly missing the start record in the first heat, her second effort started .15 slower, and all the way down her second run time bled away as the German fell behind both Nolte and Appiah, and finished just ahead of Beierl to win bronze.
The gold for Nolte was her second of the season, while the silver for Appiah was a season-best.
Beierl missed out on a third straight medal in monobob action, .01 behind Buckwitz for fourth. Armbruster Humphries was fifth, while USA’s Elana Meyers Taylor and Canada’s Melissa Lotholz tied for sixth with the American moving up from 12th in the first heat.
The United States had another solid day in monobob with all three athletes in the top ten. Kaysha Love finished eighth, up from nineth in the first heat. Canada’s Kristen Bujnowski finished 14th in her second ever visit to Winterberg as a pilot.
Former Indy 500 driver Simona de Silvestro made her World Cup debut in Winterberg and finished 23rd off the 26th quickest start.
With two races to go in the 2025/2026 World Cup season, Nolte holds an 86 point lead over Bree Walker, with Buckwitz in third. Armbruster Humphries and Love are fourth and fifth, with Beierl moving up in to sixth place.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Laura Nolte | GER | 8 | 5.93 | 5.95 | 58.90 | 59.47 | 1:58.37 |
| 2 | Cynthia Appiah | CAN | 10 | 5.86 | 5.86 | 59.15 | 59.38 | 1:58.53 |
| 3 | Lisa Buckwitz | GER | 13 | 5.77 | 5.92 | 58.86 | 59.71 | 1:58.57 |
| 4 | Katrin Beierl | AUT | 12 | 5.91 | 5.91 | 59.08 | 59.50 | 1:58.58 |
| 5 | Kaillie Armbruster Humphries | USA | 11 | 5.98 | 6.00 | 59.24 | 59.46 | 1:58.70 |
| 6 | Elana Meyers Taylor | USA | 14 | 6.00 | 5.95 | 59.34 | 59.39 | 1:58.73 |
| 6 | Melissa Lotholz | CAN | 9 | 5.93 | 5.93 | 59.30 | 59.43 | 1:58.73 |
| 8 | Kaysha Love | USA | 6 | 5.85 | 5.78 | 59.32 | 59.46 | 1:58.78 |
| 9 | Bree Walker | AUS | 5 | 5.93 | 5.94 | 59.22 | 59.64 | 1:58.86 |
| 10 | Melanie Hasler | SUI | 4 | 5.97 | 6.00 | 59.29 | 59.60 | 1:58.89 |
| 11 | Kim Kalicki | GER | 17 | 6.00 | 6.05 | 59.33 | 59.65 | 1:58.98 |
| 12 | Adele Nicoll | GBR | 21 | 6.09 | 6.03 | 59.55 | 59.44 | 1:58.99 |
| 13 | Margot Boch | FRA | 7 | 6.04 | 6.06 | 59.51 | 59.56 | 1:59.07 |
| 14 | Kristen Bujnowski | CAN | 16 | 5.87 | 5.88 | 59.51 | 59.57 | 1:59.08 |
| 15 | Inola Blatty | SUI | 20 | 6.00 | 5.96 | 59.50 | 59.72 | 1:59.22 |
| 16 | Debora Annen | SUI | 2 | 6.16 | 6.08 | 59.58 | 59.71 | 1:59.29 |
| 17 | Mingming Huai | CHN | 18 | 5.94 | 6.03 | 59.32 | 60.01 | 1:59.33 |
| 18 | Linda Weiszewski | POL | 22 | 5.99 | 5.97 | 59.60 | 59.75 | 1:59.35 |
| 19 | Qing Ying | CHN | 19 | 5.97 | 6.00 | 59.62 | 60.05 | 1:59.67 |
| 20 | Lea Haslwanter | AUT | 23 | 6.07 | 6.04 | 59.82 | 60.26 | 2:00.08 |
| 21 | Patricia Tajcnarova | CZE | 24 | 5.98 | 59.84 | |||
| 21 | Kelly van Petegem | BEL | 25 | 6.20 | 59.84 | |||
| 23 | Simona de Silvestro | ITA | 26 | 6.27 | 59.88 | |||
| 24 | Sarah Blizzard | AUS | 1 | 6.16 | 59.97 | |||
| 24 | Georgeta Popescu | ROU | 3 | 6.19 | 59.97 | |||
| 26 | Maja Voigt | DEN | 15 | 5.93 | 60.05 | |||
| 27 | Giada Andreutti | ITA | 27 | 6.31 | 60.24 |