From Cortina d’Ampezzo, ITA
(February 15, 2026) – For the third time in as many bobsled or skeleton races, the first slider off in the 2026 Olympics is the overnight leader in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Laura Nolte broke the track record in the first heat wit her first effort. She watched as the remainder of the field failed to match her pace. Behind her, however, three American sleds filed in behind her, with Elana Meyers Taylor, Kaysha Love, and Kaillie Armbruster Humphries second through fourth, with Meyers Taylor only .05 back and Love a tenth back.
Behind the Americans sat Melanie Hasler and Margot Boch, both of whom had really smooth drives to linger around the top six.
In the second heat, Hasler had another consistent and relatively clean run to take the lead from Germany’s Lisa Buckwitz. She held the lead for about two minutes, as Armbruster Humphries had what would be the quick run of the heat to take a .47 lead over the Swiss pilot.
After a bumpy run from Love dropped her behind Hasler, it was Meyers Taylor’s turn to make a run at the lead. Meyers Taylor’s start was quick, tied for fifth quickest in the heat, and she had a good drive early. A few small mistakes late kept her ahead of Armbruster Humphries but left the door open for Nolte.
Nolte’s second start was equal to Meyers Taylor, keeping them equal through the first few curves. But Notle was just a hair cleaner below K2 and pulled away by .22 over Meyers Taylor, with Armbruster Humphries back by .31.
“I’m very happy with the runs,” Nolte told the press after her second run. “They were definitely the best I’ve ever had here. I had a little something in each run; in the first one, it was turn 2 that threw me off a bit before turn 3, and now it was turn 4 that threw me off before turn 5 – so two little things. But ultimately, everyone makes mistakes on this track, that was to be expected.”
Hasler slid to fourth from fifth in the first heat, with Love dropping to fifth from third. Lisa Buckwitz, a favorite coming into the race, had a bumpy first run but slid to sixth in the second heat.
Like in the Beijing Olympics, Australia’s Bree Walker had trouble in her first heat, but put down an outstanding second slide to work her way up the order, settling into seventh overnight, just .02 ahead of Canada’s Melissa Lotholz.
Canada’s second pilot, Cynthia Appiah, is only .09 behind Walker in tenth place as part of a logjam from fifth on back.
Great Britain’s Adele Nicoll is 13th.
Standings After Two Heats:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Laura Nolte | GER | 1 | 5.48 | 5.42 | 59.44 | 59.68 | 1:59.12 |
| 2 | Elana Meyers Taylor | USA | 10 | 5.42 | 5.43 | 59.49 | 59.85 | 1:59.34 |
| 3 | Kaillie Armbruster Humphries | USA | 4 | 5.58 | 5.53 | 59.78 | 59.65 | 1:59.43 |
| 4 | Melanie Hasler | SUI | 8 | 5.47 | 5.43 | 59.98 | 59.92 | 1:59.90 |
| 5 | Kaysha Love | USA | 9 | 5.41 | 5.37 | 59.54 | 60.47 | 2:00.01 |
| 6 | Lisa Buckwitz | GER | 3 | 5.42 | 5.34 | 60.06 | 59.98 | 2:00.04 |
| 7 | Bree Walker | AUS | 2 | 5.49 | 5.44 | 60.19 | 60.01 | 2:00.20 |
| 8 | Melissa Lotholz | CAN | 6 | 5.52 | 5.51 | 60.38 | 59.84 | 2:00.22 |
| 9 | Maja Voigt | DEN | 14 | 5.43 | 5.41 | 60.10 | 60.16 | 2:00.26 |
| 10 | Cynthia Appiah | CAN | 7 | 5.41 | 5.41 | 60.11 | 60.18 | 2:00.29 |
| 11 | Margot Boch | FRA | 11 | 5.58 | 5.58 | 60.02 | 60.30 | 2:00.32 |
| 12 | Qing Ying | CHN | 23 | 5.51 | 5.50 | 60.28 | 60.31 | 2:00.59 |
| 13 | Adele Nicoll | GBR | 16 | 5.67 | 5.57 | 60.54 | 60.29 | 2:00.83 |
| 14 | Debora Annen | SUI | 12 | 5.58 | 5.56 | 60.55 | 60.32 | 2:00.87 |
| 15 | Mica Moore | JAM | 20 | 5.60 | 5.56 | 60.55 | 60.43 | 2:00.98 |
| 16 | Kim Kalicki | GER | 13 | 5.56 | 5.58 | 60.14 | 60.98 | 2:01.12 |
| 17 | Katrin Beierl | AUT | 5 | 5.54 | 5.56 | 60.34 | 60.82 | 2:01.16 |
| 18 | Mingming Huai | CHN | 21 | 5.53 | 5.54 | 60.41 | 61.00 | 2:01.41 |
| 19 | Linda Weiszewski | POL | 17 | 5.57 | 5.56 | 60.77 | 60.66 | 2:01.43 |
| 20 | Kelly van Petegem | BEL | 24 | 5.62 | 5.62 | 61.14 | 60.50 | 2:01.64 |
| 20 | Viktoria Cernanska | SVK | 19 | 5.71 | 5.68 | 60.83 | 60.81 | 2:01.64 |
| 22 | Simona de Silvestro | ITA | 22 | 5.78 | 5.81 | 61.04 | 60.80 | 2:01.84 |
| 23 | Yooran Kim | KOR | 18 | 5.71 | 5.75 | 60.96 | 60.90 | 2:01.86 |
| 24 | Sin-Rong Lin | TPE | 15 | 5.61 | 5.64 | 60.61 | 61.30 | 2:01.91 |
| 25 | Giada Andreutti | ITA | 25 | 5.76 | 5.78 | 61.21 | 60.76 | 2:01.97 |