CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Canadian bobsleigh pilot Melissa Lotholz delivered a career-best Olympic performance Monday, finishing sixth in the women’s monobob at the Cortina Sliding Centre, a result that underscores both her personal progression and Canada’s continued competitiveness in sliding sports.
The 33-year-old Alberta native posted a combined time of 3:59.24 over four runs on the technically demanding 1,445-metre track in the Italian Dolomites. Competing in her first Olympic monobob event during her third Winter Games appearance, Lotholz climbed steadily from 14th after her opening run to secure her strongest Olympic finish in any discipline.
Her performance comes amid growing global competition in monobob, the single-athlete discipline introduced to expand participation and lower costs compared with traditional two- and four-person sleds. Canada has invested heavily in driver development as part of its high-performance winter sports strategy, and Lotholz’s result signals a return on that investment.
After struggling in early training sessions, Lotholz found her form during competition, posting the third-fastest time in the second heat to move into contention.
“Throughout the race, I learned the track more and more,” said Lotholz, who was seventh at the midway point. “I wish I had gone into the race with that knowledge, but you’re always a student of the sport.”
She moved into sixth place after the third run and maintained her position in the final heat, a demonstration of consistency critical in elite sliding competition.
“Of course, every athlete dreams of an Olympic medal, but for me it is all about the process. I think there were wins in every single run. I really struggled in training, so each run felt like a new victory,” added Lotholz.
The podium was ultimately claimed by American veteran Elana Meyers Taylor, who captured gold in 3:57.93. Germany’s Laura Nolte, who led after three runs, slipped to silver following a costly error in her final descent, finishing in 3:57.97. American Kaillie Humphries, a former Canadian Olympic champion now competing for the United States, took bronze in 3:58.05.
Lotholz praised the experience and longevity of the medal winners.
“Elana is an amazing athlete, an amazing person and an amazing mom – she’s really everyone’s bobsleigh mom out here. She has such a big heart and has been at the top of the game for decades, so for her to finally get the win is pretty cool to see,” said Lotholz. “Experience pays off and we saw that with the women on the podium tonight. They are the ones with the most experience.”
Lotholz’s Olympic showing builds on a consistent World Cup season, in which she recorded six top-six finishes in seven races. She also placed sixth at the Olympic test event in Cortina, indicating her ability to adapt to the challenging track.
“I believe monobob is the hardest discipline to drive,” she added. “I was sixth overall on the World Cup this year, I’ve had five sixth place finishes, so I feel like I have to be happy with sixth here at the Olympics. I’m excited to see how it may all come together for me now in the two-woman.”
For Canadian bobsleigh, consistent results like Lotholz’s are key to maintaining international relevance and funding support, which often depends on Olympic and World Cup performance benchmarks.
Fellow Canadian Cynthia Appiah, of Toronto, finished 13th overall with a time of 4:01.13, despite delivering the fifth-fastest final run. Appiah entered the Games as a medal contender after earning silver at a World Cup event in Winterberg, Germany, but struggled with costly mistakes earlier in the competition.
“I was really feeling like I had what it took to climb up the leaderboard, but that mistake out of corner two (in the third run) bit me hard. I was frustrated with how run three went,” said Appiah. “I’m glad I was able to showcase what I can do in run four but on the other side, it’s even more frustrating, because I know what I’m capable of and to see it only happen in one of the four runs is also frustrating.”
Despite the setback, Appiah said her final run could provide momentum heading into the two-woman event.
“I’m going to use that fourth run today as a launchpad to go into the next couple of days of the two-woman training and hopefully have four solid runs in the two-woman race,” added Appiah.
Lotholz, Appiah and Bianca Ribi are scheduled to compete in the two-woman competition later this week, alongside brake athletes Dawn Richardson-Wilson, Kelsey Mitchell and Skylar Sieben.
For Lotholz, Monday’s result represents both a personal milestone and a foundation for future success as Canada looks to rebuild its standing among the world’s elite sliding nations.