Melissa Lotholz Battles to Sixth in World Cup Monobob
CORTINA, Ita.—Melissa Lotholz battled to the very end in the opening World Cup monobob race of the season on the Olympic Track in Cortina, Italy where she crossed the line just shy of the podium in sixth place.
The two-time Olympian stormed from behind in the final run of the 1,445-metre track that winds down the Italian Dolomites to clock a two-run time of 1:59.99 and finish .35 seconds from the medals.
“I’m very excited to be kicking off the season with a sixth-place finish on the Olympic Track, and with room to improve,” beamed the 32-year-old Lotholz. “The race was very up and down with lots of movement in the field between the two heats. It’s a tricky track, especially in monobob where it’s harder to build pressure and is easier to skid, so I think it will be a very fun Olympic event to watch with lots of drama.”
The experienced pilot from Barrhead, Alta. found the fast line on Saturday. Sitting in 10th spot after her first bomb down the twisty 16-corner chute, the ever-positive Canuck bolted up the leaderboard into sixth spot overall after clocking the fifth-fastest final-run downtime (Heat 1: 1:00.06, Heat 2: 59.93).
“This was one of the best monobob finishes of my career. I made some big changes in monobob coming into the season, including moving my seating position further back and investing in some equipment thanks to the support of my community and personal sponsors,” said Lotholz. “I really couldn’t make this progress without the incredible community of people around me so I’m happy to see the changes are paying off.”
Germany’s Laura Nolte won the women’s race with a time of 1:59.47. Kaysha Love, of the United States, stopped the clock at 1:59.62 for the silver medal, while Australia’s Bree Walker locked up third place with a time of 1:59.63.
Toronto’s Cynthia Appiah was 13th at 2:00.81. Kristen Bujnowski (Mount Brydges, Ont.), who was seventh in her first ever World Championship monobob race last year, mixed together her two runs in a time of 2:01.06 for 16th spot.
It was the first time in nearly two decades the world’s fastest toboggans slid into Cortina. Athletes got their first test of the 2026 Olympic venue over the last two weeks during an international training period.
Taylor Austin (Lethbridge, Alta.) and Shaq-Murray-Lawrence (Scarborough, Ont.) teamed up for the same 16th-place result in the two-man competition. The Canadian duo clocked a combined time of 1:53.00.
“It was a pretty good start for us today,” said Austin, who represented Canada at the 2022 Olympics. “I came into the race still trying to learn, and gain experience on this new track. I tried to keep it as simple as possible, and I think we had two pretty consistent runs as a result. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do in the four-man tomorrow.”
The Germans swept the podium in the two-man competition. Johannes Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer slid into the winner’s circle with a time of 1:51.15. Francesco Friedrich and Alexander Schuller were second at 1:51.49, while Adam Ammour and Alexander Schaller completed the sweep, winning the bronze with a time of 1:51.75.
The Ottawa duo of Pat Norton and Mike Evelyn O’Higgins did not qualify for the second run with the top 20 sleds and placed 25th.
The World Cup wraps up on Sunday in Cortina with the two-woman and four-man bobsleigh races.
Complete Women’s Monobob Results: