Love, Walker tie for World Cup monobob gold, Friedrich closes in on season title in 2-man

Kaysha Love of the U.S. and Bree Walker of Australia tied for the gold medal in a women's World Cup monobob race on Saturday in Lillehammer, Norway.

Both finished two runs with a time of one minute 49.14 seconds. Laura Nolte of Germany was third in 1:49.21.

Love now has won seven monobob medals — three gold, three silver and one bronze — in 15 World Cup races since the start of last season. She also has won medals in each of her last four monobob races, the longest active streak on the World Cup circuit.

World Cup leader Lisa Buckwitz of Germany was fifth and has a 66-point lead over Walker and Nolte in the season-long monobob standings with one race remaining. Buckwitz would win her second consecutive World Cup overall monobob title with a finish of eighth place or better in the finale at Lillehammer on Feb. 15.

Toronto's Cynthia Appiah was the top Canadian in sixth.

In the two-man race later Saturday, Francesco Friedrich of Germany got another win and moved closer to what would be his seventh World Cup overall two-man title.

Friedrich paired with Alexander Schuller for Saturday's win, with Johannes Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer of Germany second. Brad Hall and Taylor Lawrence of Britain were third.

Pat Norton and Mike Evelyn O'Higgins, both from Ottawa, finished 17th for the top Canadian result.

Assuming both compete in the finale, the World Cup points title will be down to Friedrich and Lochner. Friedrich has a 30-point lead going into the Feb. 15 finale at Lillehammer; he would clinch the title with a third-place finish or better.

Lochner's easiest path to the World Cup title would be with a win and Friedrich finishing no better than fourth.

Such a scenario seems unlikely. Friedrich has won a medal in each of his 19 World Cup two-man races and 57 of his last 59 two-man events on the circuit.

In the mixed skeleton race Saturday, Amelia Coleman and Marcus Wyatt of Britain won, with Janine Flock and Samuel Maier of Austria second and Mystique Ro and Austin Florian placing third for the U.S.

Up next

Bobsleigh: Two-woman, four-man races Sunday in Lillehammer.

Skeleton: World championships for men and women, March 6-7 in Lake Placid, New York.

Luge: World Cup men's doubles, women's doubles and men's singles, Feb. 15 at Pyeongchang, South Korea.