Olympics-Bobsleigh-German-US rivalry warms the ice in Two-Woman

By Mitch Phillips

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 20 (Reuters) - The highly anticipated battle between the German and U.S. sleds in the Olympic Two-Woman bobsleigh competition did not disappoint on Friday as they filled the top five places at the halfway point, with defending champion Laura Nolte leading the way.

Only 0.62 seconds split the top five after two runs, with the medals to be decided by Saturday's third and fourth. Newly crowned Monobob champion Elana Meyers Taylor of the United States, however, will not be among those in the mix after a shocking second run.

Germany's defending Two-Woman champion Nolte, who lost the Monobob gold to Meyers Taylor by four hundredths of a second on Monday, and brakewoman Deborah Levi, were consistency personified, opening with a track record of 56.97 seconds then posting 56.96 on their second run.

Nolte has won the World Cup title three years in a row and was the dominant performer through this season, winning five of the seven races.

"On the first run I messed up corner one and when you lose speed there it's hard to get it back in the down part," Nolte said of her track record run.

Compatriot Lisa Buckwitz, who took gold as a brakewoman in 2018, is now a pilot and has teamed up with Neele Schuten in Cortina after having a variety of partners through the season.

The pair had been red hot during the week's training and sit second, 0.18 behind.

Kaillie Humphries won the 2010 and 2014 golds for Canada before switching to the United States and showed all her experience with a brilliant steering display as, with brakewoman Jasmine Jones, she led after the first run.

She lost some ground after the second to slip five hundredths behind Buckwitz but still two tenths ahead of the third German sled of Kim Kalicki and the inexperienced Talea Prepens, with Americans Kaysha Love and Azaria Hill fifth.

Prepens looks like a veteran alongside Jadin O'Brien, a heptathlete who climbed into a sled for the first time only a few months ago and who had had only two races before the Olympics.

She adds explosive power to the vast experience of Meyers Taylor, 41 and in her fifth Olympics with two silvers and two bronze medals in the event to her name.

They were right in the mix in fifth after the first run but suffered a nightmare on the second, crashing into the wall just after settling into the sled, slewing sideways and losing all their speed. They clocked 57.99 - 21st of the 25 racers - to end the night a distant 12th and out of the medal hunt.

"We came out of the start grooves, hit right. I tried to steer it away from the wall and just could not react in time,” said Meyers Taylor, who has won six medals in her five Olympic appearances.

"So we hit, skidded up the first curve, and after you do that it's game over. When you make that kind of mistake, that is a devastating mistake."

Germany, the U.S. and Canada - mostly through Humphries - have won 17 of the 18 medals available in the event since it joined the Games in 2002, with Italy's lone bronze in Turin 2006 spoiling the sweep.

That tally looks certain to climb to 20 out of 21 on Saturday.