From Altenberg, GER
(January 18, 2026) – The track in Altenberg had never been faster for bobsled on Sunday, and no pilot faster than Laura Nolte as the German slid to gold with a track record in the first heat.
Nolte and Deobra Levi threw down the quick start in the first heat, and Nolte had the quickest drive ever on the way to a .39 second lead over USA’s Kaillie Armbruster Humphries and Jasmine Jones, with Kim Kalicki and Lauryn Siebert well back in third.
The second heat would see Kalicki, in her final World Cup race, throw down a strong second effort to take the lead and a medal with what would be the second quickest run of the second heat.
Humphries was next. Altenberg is her favorite track on tour, and she threw down a drive that was only .08 slower than Kalicki’s second effort and more than enough to hold onto silver with just Nolte to go.
The track had slowed down most of the way through, but with the wind having also died down from the first heat, Nolte and Levi put down a huge second start with a track record push. Nolte then drove .43 quicker than anyone else in the heat to take victory by a yawning .9 over Armbruster Humphries with Kalicki third, over a full second back.
The win for Nolte was her 25th gold medal in two-woman bobsled. For Armbruster Humphries, her silver was the 67th medal of her two-woman career but oddly her first silver since Königssee in January of 2018.
Kalicki finished out her World Cup career with 38 World Cup two-woman medals.
Austria’s Kati Beierl and Nicola Pichler slid to fourth place, leapfrogging Canada’s Cynthia Appiah and Skyler Sieben along the way. The Canadians were fifth, with Lisa Buckwitz and Kira Lipperheide sixth.
The United States’ Elana Meyers Taylor and Emily Renna were seventh, with Canada’s Bianca Ribi and Dawn Richardson Wilson rounding out the top ten.
Laura Nolte won the season title with golds in five of seven races on the season. Kaillie Humphries was second overall and Kim Kalicki third. Lisa Buckwitz and Kati Beierl were fourth and fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Nolte / Levi | GER | 7 | 5.65 | 5.50 | 55.96 | 56.37 | 1:52.33 |
| 2 | Armbruster Humphries / Jones | USA | 10 | 5.71 | 5.67 | 56.35 | 56.88 | 1:53.23 |
| 3 | Kalicki / Siebert | GER | 13 | 5.74 | 5.65 | 56.59 | 56.80 | 1:53.39 |
| 4 | Beierl / Pichler | AUT | 11 | 5.76 | 5.76 | 56.90 | 57.33 | 1:54.23 |
| 5 | Appiah / Sieben | CAN | 2 | 5.72 | 5.75 | 56.81 | 57.63 | 1:54.44 |
| 6 | Buckwitz / Lipperheide | GER | 6 | 5.68 | 5.66 | 57.06 | 57.59 | 1:54.65 |
| 7 | Meyers Taylor / Renna | USA | 8 | 5.76 | 5.72 | 57.13 | 57.65 | 1:54.78 |
| 8 | Annen / Kora | SUI | 4 | 5.85 | 5.77 | 57.32 | 57.64 | 1:54.96 |
| 9 | Boch / Senechal (1) / Goureau (2) | FRA | 5 | 5.94 | 5.93 | 57.45 | 57.58 | 1:55.03 |
| 10 | Ribi / Richardson wilson | CAN | 17 | 5.74 | 5.77 | 57.30 | 57.78 | 1:55.08 |
| 11 | Cernanska / Mokrasova | SVK | 16 | 6.02 | 5.95 | 57.57 | 57.97 | 1:55.54 |
| 12 | Ying / Wang | CHN | 14 | 5.85 | 5.90 | 57.55 | 58.15 | 1:55.70 |
| 13 | Popescu / Vlad | ROU | 15 | 6.02 | 6.01 | 57.72 | 58.38 | 1:56.10 |
| 14 | Van Petegem / Horemans | BEL | 3 | 6.09 | 6.04 | 57.81 | 58.51 | 1:56.32 |
| 15 | Blizzard / Johnson | AUS | 1 | 6.01 | 6.13 | 57.77 | 58.78 | 1:56.55 |
| DNS | Blatty / Kambundji | SUI | 9 | 5.81 | 63.80 | DNS | DNS | |
| DNS | Lotholz / Wilson | CAN | 12 | 5.79 | 60.09 | DNS | DNS |