Olympics-Bobsleigh-Germany's Nolte sets the pace in Monobob

By Mitch Phillips

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Germany's World Cup winner Laura Nolte carried her hot season's form into the Olympics on Sunday when she built a healthy lead at the halfway point of the women's Monobob, with two vastly experienced Americans sitting just behind her.

Double world champion Nolte, a gold medallist in the Two-Woman in 2022, has six podium finishes in the seven World Cup races this season. She set the standard on Sunday with a track record of 59.44 seconds with the first run of the day and clocked 59.68 with the last.

That gave her a 0.22 second lead over Elana Meyers Taylor, who claimed silver on the first running of the event in Beijing, and 0.31 over defending champion Kaillie Humphries.

Meyers Taylor, 41, is seeking a sixth medal in her fifth Olympics while Humphries has three golds, having previously also won the Two-Woman twice when representing Canada.

A third American, world champion Kaysha Love, lost ground as she repeatedly hit the wall in the dreaded Labirinti curves on her second run to sit fifth behind Switzerland's Melanie Hasler.

Germany's Lisa Buckwist, a Two-Woman gold medallist in 2018 who had been impressive in training all week, was off the pace in sixth.

World Cup runner up Bree Walker's hopes of securing a first-ever bobsleigh medal for Australia also looked to have disappeared after a pair of ragged runs left her a distant seventh, more than a second behind.

Monobob is seen as an egalitarian test of technique as all athletes use identical sleds, theoretically eliminating the considerable technological gains that can be made by countries with long development traditions and deep pockets.

However, it is still the sport's traditional powers - Germany, Canada and the U.S. - who are usually at the top of the tree.

The medals will be decided by the final two runs on Monday when the aggregate time of all four runs counts.