Australia's bobsleigh gold medal hopeful Bree Walker has claimed bronze in the monobob test event on the new track for February's Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Germany’s Laura Nolte edged American Kaysha Love into second place in Saturday's competition, with Walker just 0.16 sec behind her in third.
The battle for silver came down to mere fractions, with Walker 0.01 seconds behind Love.
Walker, 33, who finished fifth in the monobob at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, has just completed a 10-day training block on the course.
“My coach always says any day I finish on the podium is a good day, so very happy to finish third here for the first race of the season,” said Walker.
“I love the track here in Cortina, it’s really fun, a few technical corners especially at the top, and then it has a lovely flow down to the bottom, I am really enjoying driving here.
“My runs weren’t perfect, I am excited to come back here in February and be able to fix them up and see what happens on the other side."
Love, a former university sprinter, had the fastest starting times in both runs. But Nolte had the fastest run of the day at 59.67 seconds in her second trip down, moving her up from third after the opening descent.
“Winning on the Olympic track gives you a lot of confidence,” Nolte said. “I’m very, very happy with my start times, that I’m so close to the top starters now. That’s how you can win a race.
"To be honest, I had much better runs in training, especially the upper part from corner one to five. I always nailed it in training but today it somehow didn’t work that well. The ice was very hard.”
Kaillie Humphries Armbruster, the 40-year-old defending Olympic champion in monobob, was fourth.
Also in action for Australia was Sarah Blizzard in 23rd place.
Walker will team up with brakewoman Kiara Reddingius for the two-woman race on Sunday.
It’s the first weekend of bobsleigh and skeleton racing on the completely rebuilt Eugenio Monti track, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, as part of the season-opening World Cup, which doubles as an Olympic test event.
However, there were no spectators as building work continues ahead of the Games, which run from February 6 to 22.
with AP
