Humphries second to Nolte at monobob World Cup, maintains season lead

Kaillie Humphries of the United States remained in the World Cup monobob season points lead Saturday, after finishing second to Germany's Laura Nolte in the first race of 2023 in Winterberg, Germany.

Nolte got her second consecutive win, both times with Humphries finishing second. Humphries is the only woman who has medalled in all four monobob races this season, and she has an 845-810 lead over Nolte in the season standings.

Nolte trailed by 50 points entering Saturday. She finished two runs in one minute 59.54 seconds. Humphries finished in 1:59.72, barely ahead of Germany's Kim Kalicki and her time of 1:59.73.

Two Canadians placed inside the top 10, with Toronto's Cynthia Appiah leading the way in eighth (2:00.13), followed by Winnipeg's Bianca Ribi (2:00.14).

"I wasn't happy with today's results. I struggled in key corners during the training week, and it carried into the race day," Appiah said in a statement. "I tried to match my results from last season, and that wasn't the right head space to be in."

The 32-year-old finished took third in Winterberg last year and this season is sixth in the overall standings, thanks to a silver and bronze medal in the opening two races

Ribi, 26, had two consistent runs on Saturday after winning in her World Cup debut in November at the Whistler Sliding Centre. She is seventh overall.

In the two-man race, Germany's Francesco Friedrich failed to medal for only the sixth time in his last 86 major international races, and for only the fourth time in 22 starts at Winterberg in his career. Battling through injury, he teamed with Thorsten Margis to finish sixth.

Germany's Johannes Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer won in 1:51.17, with the Swiss sled of Michael Vogt and Sandro Michel second in 1:51.31. Britain's Brad Hall and Taylor Lawrence were third in 1:51.44. There were no U.S. sleds in the race.

Taylor Austin of Lethbridge, Alta., and Shaq Murray-Lawrence of Scarborough, Ont., were 11th of 18 finishers in 1:52.66.

CBC Sports will live stream Sunday's events at Winterberg, beginning at 4 a.m. ET with the two-women's bobsleigh competition, followed by 4-man at 8:30 a.m. ET.