At the Winter Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, German bobsledder Laura Nolte won silver in the monobob, missing gold by just 0.04 seconds. American Elana Meyers Taylor claimed the victory, with Kaillie Humphries-Armbruster taking bronze. Nolte led until the final run, where minor errors cost her the lead.
Laura Nolte from Winterberg secured the silver medal in the monobob at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo. After four runs, the 27-year-old missed gold by 0.04 seconds, which went to 41-year-old American Elana Meyers Taylor. This marked Taylor's sixth Olympic success, her first gold after two bronzes and three silvers. Bronze went to her 40-year-old compatriot Kaillie Humphries-Armbruster, 0.08 seconds behind Nolte and now with five medals from five appearances.
Nolte led after three runs with a 0.22-second advantage over Taylor. In the third run, Taylor set a track record, closing the gap to 0.15 seconds. In the decisive fourth run, she capitalized on Nolte's band contact and speed loss to take the lead. With tears in her eyes, Nolte said: “Of course it’s amazing to win a medal at the Olympics, especially since I finished fourth in the mono four years ago in Peking.” “When you lead after three runs, you want to win gold. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out.” She felt like she had lost gold rather than won silver.
National coach René Spies noted: “Monobob is no competition for the faint-hearted. The race was very demanding, and the pilots were closely matched.” It was the twelfth medal for the German sliding sports team. Lisa Buckwitz placed fourth, 0.7 seconds back, and Kim Kalicki fifteenth. With three world titles, six European wins, and 31 World Cup victories, Nolte is now the top favorite in the two-woman bob, where she won gold in Peking 2022. “I got back up every time,” she said of her career. The Cortina track suits her style, and she aims for revenge over the weekend.
