WINTERBERG, Germany (AP) — Kaillie Humphries of the U.S. remained in the World Cup monobob season points lead Saturday, after finishing second to Germany's Laura Nolte in the first race of 2023.
Nolte got her second consecutive win, both times with Humphries finishing second. Humphries is the only woman who has medalled in all four monobob races this season, and she has an 845-810 lead over Nolte in the season standings.
Nolte trailed by 50 points entering Saturday. She finished two runs in 1 minute, 59.54 seconds. Humphries finished in 1:59.72, barely ahead of Germany's Kim Kalicki and her time of 1:59.73.
Toronto's Cynthia Appiah was the top Canadian in the race, finishing in eighth. Bianca Ribi of Calgary came in ninth.
“I wasn’t happy with today’s results. I struggled in key corners during the training week, and it carried into the race day,” Appiah said in a statement. “I tried to match my results from last season, and that wasn’t the right head space to be in.”
Appiah finished took third in Winterberg last year.
In the two-man race, Germany's Francesco Friedrich failed to medal for only the sixth time in his last 86 major international races — and for only the fourth time in 22 starts at Winterberg in his career. Battling through injury, he teamed with Thorsten Margis to finish sixth.
Germany’s Johannes Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer won in 1:51.17, with the Swiss sled of Michael Vogt and Sandro Michel second in 1:51.31. Britain’s Brad Hall and Taylor Lawrence were third in 1:51.44. There were no U.S. sleds in the race.
Canadians Taylor Austin and Shaquille Murray-Lawrence finished in 11th.
The Associated Press
