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German newcomer Nolte blazes to Olympic bobsleigh gold / Photo: ©
German newcomer Nolte blazes to Olympic bobsleigh gold
Laura Nolte blazed to Olympic gold in the two-women bobsleigh Saturday, just a year after winning the junior world title, as Germany again ruled at the Winter Games sliding centre.
Nolte and her brakewoman Deborah Levi dominated, setting track records in three of the four heats to clock a combined winning time of 4min 3.96sec.
The 23-year-old Nolte left a field of former Olympic medallists in her wake with German team-mate and 2018 Pyeongchang champion Miriama Jamanka second, 0.77sec behind.
The USA's Elana Meyers Taylor, 37, was third at 1.52sec to win the fifth Olympic medal of her career and the second of these Games after taking monobob silver.
Her team-mate Kaillie Humphries, the 2010 and 2014 two-woman Olympic champion and the monobob gold medallist in Beijing, lost time in Saturday's opening heat and ended up seventh.
It was a stunning display by Nolte, who earned a world bronze last year and has racked up 14 podium places on the World Cup circuit since her debut season of 2019/20.
Having finished fourth in the monobob on Monday, Nolte was peerless Saturday, clocking a top speed of 133 kilometres per hour (83 miles per hour) on her third run.
Her victory means Germany have won eight of nine events at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre.
They can make it nine victories from ten in the men's four-man event on Sunday with Francesco Friedrich holding a narrow lead over fellow German pilot Johannes Lochner going into the final day.
F. Tavares--JDB
