Laura Nolte successfully defended the monobob world championship title on her home track in Winterberg.
Starting the second day of competition in fourth place, the 25-year-old outclassed her teammate Lisa Buckwitz in the final two runs on Sunday and won the second World Championship gold of her career.
European champion Buckwitz missed out on her first World Cup title despite leading at halftime; she won the bronze medal, 0.23 seconds behind.
In a close race, silver went to the experienced American Elana Meyers Taylor (+0.18).
The day before, Nolte had only managed fourth place due to adductor problems and starting problems, but on Sunday she clearly improved physically and mentally.
Disappointment for Kalicki
Kim Kalicki, the third German starter in the field, only ended up in twelfth place due to a torn meniscus and back problems. “I had hoped for more. But to know what the track is like, it’s good to ride mono,” said Kalicki on “ARD”.
At the end of the third run, the race was interrupted for about ten minutes after Australian Sarah Blizzard hit her head on the ice channel wall in a fall. According to initial assessments, she did not suffer any serious injuries.
On the second World Cup weekend (March 1st to 3rd) Nolte, Buckwitz and Kalicki will fight for gold in the pairs. In contrast to the mono, in which the world leaders are close together, the trio and especially Olympic champion Nolte are clearly the favorites. A German duo has won every World Cup race so far this season.