Köhler Edges Nolte for First EC Win

From Winterberg, GER

Dec. 15, 2019 – Anna Köhler edged out Laura Nolte to win her first ever European Cup women’s bobsled race.

Köhler acrried a .15 second advantage over her teammate going into the second run. On that second trip down Nolte put down a solid time to put the pressure on Köhler. Köhler answered with a time quick enough for third-fastest of the day, but enough to hold back Nolte by just .01 to win her first career gold medal.

Despite the lack of golds, the podium is no stranger to Köhler. The German has 13 starts on the European Cup circuit, and has finished in the top three in six of those races, and the top six in all but four events.

Nolte finished second, only .07 ahead of Romania’s Andreea Grecu in third. Grecu set the fastest time of the competition in the second heat to move up from fifth the bronze medal position.

An Vannieuwenhuyse finished just .2 back in fourth, ahead of Germany’s Anne Lobenstein and France’s Margo Boch in fifth and sixth, respectively.

Results:

Pos Names Nation Bib Start 1 Start 2 Run 1 Run 2 Total
1 Köhler / Seer GER 8 5.76 5.77 58.42 58.23 1:56.65
2 Nolte / Dönicke GER 13 5.63 5.64 58.57 58.09 1:56.66
3 Grecu / Gheorghe ROU 9 5.67 5.65 58.72 58.01 1:56.73
4 Vannieuwenhuyse / Aerts BEL 10 5.75 5.75 58.67 58.26 1:56.93
5 Lobenstein / Galander GER 4 5.70 5.72 58.59 58.59 1:57.18
6 Boch / Senechal FRA 5 5.82 5.79 58.78 58.47 1:57.25
7 Osipenko / Tarasova RUS 6 5.85 5.83 58.74 58.68 1:57.42
8 Walker / Preiksa AUS 3 5.78 5.79 58.93 58.54 1:57.47
9 Buckwitz / Leitz GER 17 5.74 5.75 59.13 58.50 1:57.63
10 Makarova / Iokst RUS 14 5.79 5.78 59.07 58.86 1:57.93
11 Hasler / Naef SUI 11 5.77 5.83 59.25 58.83 1:58.08
12 Hubrecht / van Petegem BEL 2 5.94 5.84 59.47 58.87 1:58.34
13 Mica McNeill GBR 12 5.95 5.98 59.50 58.91 1:58.41
14 Andreutti / Taini ITA 16 6.01 5.97 60.50 59.56 2:00.06
15 Vlad / Wick ROU 1 5.97 5.93 60.64 59.92 2:00.56
16 Smolarek / Slupecka POL 15 6.26 6.19 61.07 61.24 2:02.31
DNF Vicenzino / Schenk ITA 7 5.91 DNF