CORTINA, Italy—Canada’s Melissa Lotholz delivered a determined performance in the opening World Cup monobob event of the season on Saturday, finishing sixth on the newly constructed Olympic Track in Cortina. The result places the two-time Olympian within striking distance of the podium as athletes begin testing the venue that will host sliding events at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Games.
Lotholz clocked a two-run combined time of 1:59.99 on the 1,445-metre track carved into the Italian Dolomites. Her time left her just 0.35 seconds behind the medal positions in a competitive field that saw significant movement between heats.
“I’m very excited to be kicking off the season with a sixth-place finish on the Olympic Track, and with room to improve,” Lotholz said. “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 32-year-old pilot from Barrhead, Alta., used her experience to recover from a challenging opening run. Sitting 10th after posting 1:00.06 on her first descent, she climbed four places with a strong second run of 59.93—the fifth-fastest time of the heat. Her late-race push marked one of the best monobob finishes of her career.
“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,” she said. “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 topped the women’s monobob standings with a winning time of 1:59.47. Kaysha Love of the United States claimed silver at 1:59.62, and Australia’s Bree Walker secured bronze with a run of 1:59.63.
Two other Canadians were in the field. Toronto’s Cynthia Appiah finished 13th with a total time of 2:00.81, while Kristen Bujnowski of Mount Brydges, Ont.—seventh at last year’s World Championship monobob event—placed 16th after recording 2:01.06 across her two heats.
The competition marked the first World Cup return to Cortina in nearly 20 years. Athletes have been familiarizing themselves with the track over the past two weeks during an international training period intended to prepare teams for Olympic testing and long-term performance planning.
In the men’s two-man event, Canada earned its second 16th-place result of the day. The duo of Taylor Austin (Lethbridge, Alta.) and Shaq Murray-Lawrence (Scarborough, Ont.) posted a combined time of 1:53.00.
“It was a pretty good start for us today,” said Austin, who competed for 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.”
Germany dominated the two-man competition, sweeping the podium. Johannes Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer claimed gold with a time of 1:51.15. Francesco Friedrich and Alexander Schuller finished second at 1:51.49, while Adam Ammour and Alexander Schaller secured bronze with a run of 1:51.75.
Ottawa’s Pat Norton and Mike Evelyn O’Higgins missed the cutoff for the second run, placing 25th after the field was narrowed to the top 20 sleds.
The World Cup weekend in Cortina concludes Sunday with the two-woman and four-man bobsleigh events.
Bobsleigh CANADA Skeleton, the national governing body for bobsleigh and skeleton, continues to support athlete development with assistance from corporate partners Karbon, Athabasca Oil Corporation in collaboration with Canada Action’s I Love Canadian Energy campaign, Leeswood Construction, Bomber LD, PX3, Kuritec, and Vessi, along with the Government of Canada, Own the Podium and the Canadian Olympic Committee.
For more information, visit bobsleighcanadaskeleton.ca.
