Olympics-Bobsleigh-Germany's Nolte holds nerve to retain Two-Woman title

By Mitch Phillips

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Germany's Laura Nolte was faultless in the Two-Woman bobsleigh on Saturday, taking gold with Deborah Levi for the second successive Olympics a week after losing out on the Monobob title by four hundredths of a second with a final-run stumble.

Compatriot Lisa Buckwitz, a former champion as a brakewoman, took silver, ahead of Kaillie Humphries, who won the 2010 and 2014 golds for Canada but now represents the United States.

Nolte started the day 0.18 ahead and virtually doubled that gap with a 57.26 opening run.

However, she would surely have had in her mind what happened last Monday when she stood at the top of her final run with a healthy lead in the Monobob, only to make an early mistake and lose gold to Elana Meyers Taylor of the U.S. by a whisker.

Buckwitz had put enough pressure on to ensure Nolte could not afford a repeat but this time she kept her composure and steered brilliantly to post 57.27 for victory by over half a second.

"To defend it together as a team is so cool," Nolte said. "It was such a fun race and we had to keep our nerves together until the very last corner, but it was amazing.

"I used it (Monobob defeat) as a motivation for sure. You need that fuel for the Two-Woman. I also knew I can steer a bit better so I know it would be better in the Two-Woman.

Levi described the victory as incredible. "We had some hard times during the last four years so we fought back, and now we’re here winning gold. It’s just so crazy that we did it a second time," she said.

"Laura did a great job today. The third run was really nice and also the other ones, and I’m just so proud of her."

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.

She was the youngest bobsleigh champion in history when she triumphed as a 23-year-old in Beijing and now 27, with Levi 28, she will already have eyes on a hat-trick in four years in the French Alps.

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 in hot form during the week's training and consistent throughout the competition for a clear silver.

Humphries, 40, teamed up with powerful brakewoman Jasmine Jones to take bronze to make it six career Olympic medals – three for each country she has represented.

Germany, the U.S. and Canada - mostly through Humphries - have now won 20 of the 21 medals available in the event since it joined the Games in 2002, with Italy's lone bronze in Turin 2006 spoiling the sweep.

The result also means that Germany have won both the team golds in Cortina so far and, with their Two-Man podium pilots filling the top three places at the halfway point in the Four-Man, a third successive sweep looks a certainty.