Australian bobsleigh star Bree Walker has capped off a superb World Cup campaign with a silver medal at the final monobob event of the season in Altenberg, Germany.
 
Walker’s great form has her second  for the third consecutive year in the final World Cup season rankings. Walker heads into next month’s Olympic Winter Games in Milano-Cortina full of confidence after her best season including three victories and a total of five podium finishes from seven World Cup starts.
 
Walker opened her Altenberg campaign with a strong first run, combining a solid push with excellent driving to produce the third‑fastest time of the heat at 59.50 seconds. She backed it up with an impressive performance in the final run, clocking the second‑fastest time of 59.60 seconds.
 
Her combined total of 1:59.10 secured the silver medal, and the 17th World Cup medal of her career.

The USA’s Kaillie Armbruster Humphries claimed victory with a two‑run combined time of 1:58.97, finishing 0.13 seconds ahead of Walker, while Germany’s Laura Nolte placed third in 1:59.16.
 
“I am absolutely stoked to finish on the podium again in the last race of the season, and especially here in Altenberg where I have sure had some interesting races,” said the 33-year-old from Queensland.
 
“To finish second, which then secured my second place overall, I am on top of the world. Very happy to finish the World Cup season like this, and it gives me a lot of confidence and momentum leading towards the Olympic Games in 20 days’ time.
 
“I definitely feel that my driving has gone to a whole new level this year. It’s been such a team effort to get me to this point.
 
“This season I just wanted to build momentum towards the Games, and I think we have done that. It’s been my best season so far, and I am filled with a lot of confidence and excitement heading toward Cortina.”
 
Also competing for Australia was Sarah Blizzard in 20th place.
 
Walker concluded the World Cup series with 1429 points in the overall standings, narrowly missing the Crystal Globe by just 17 points to Nolte, with Germany’s Lisa Buckwitz in third on 1320.
 
Walker and brakewoman Kiara Reddingius did not compete in the two‑woman event in Altenberg, leaving Blizzard and brakewoman Desi Johnson as the sole Australian crew in the final World Cup race of the two-woman season, where they finished in 15th place.

Australian bobsleigh star Bree Walker has created history as the first Australian to win a gold medal on the iconic St Moritz track in Switzerland, with victory in the monobob event.
 
The QAS bobsleigh pilot has now won three World Cup events this season, elevating her to second in the overall standings with just one event remaining before the Milano-Cortina Olympic Winter Games.
 
The Celerina track in St Moritz is one of the sport’s most iconic venues, as the only  track featuring hand-cut ice and natural refrigeration. Steeped in tradition, it hosted the 1928 and 1948 Olympic Winter Games bobsleigh events.
 
The 33-year-old from Queensland set the tone in the opening run with a fast push and her trademark precision driving, clocking 1:11.98 seconds, the fastest time of the round and 0.14 seconds clear of second place.
 
In the final run, as the last competitor on the track, Walker delivered another flawless performance, stopping the clock at 1:11.29 seconds. Her combined time of 2:23.27 secured victory by a commanding 0.53-second margin, marking the sixth World Cup win of her career.
 
Switzerland’s Melanie Hasler claimed silver with 2:23.80, while Austria’s Katrin Beierl took bronze in 2:23.95.
 
After the race, Walker praised her coach Pierre Lueders for helping her achieve her breakthrough victory at St. Moritz.
 
“Pierre has been teaching me for years, and it’s been a slow process. He loves this track and has had so much success here, so I think I should dedicate this win to him today.”
 
Reflecting on Lueders’ reaction in the coaches’ box, Walker added:
 
“Well that's fantastic, I'm glad Pierre had a lot of fun today, I sure did, and especially to be on the podium with Kati and Mel, that's our dream podium and we had a really good time.”
 
Also competing for Australia was fellow QAS bobsleigh pilot Sarah Blizzard in 20th place.
 
The win moves Walker into second place on the monobob World Cup standings with 1219 points, trailing Laura Nolte of Germany by 27 points on 1246, with Lisa Buckwitz also of Germany in third with 1128 points.
 
Two Woman Bobsleigh World Cup
 
On the final day in St. Moritz, the two-woman World Cup event was contested, with Walker and brakewoman Kiara Reddingius finishing 16th, while Blizzard and brakewoman Desi Johnson placed 20th.
 
The last World Cup events before the Milano-Cortina Olympic Winter Games will be held in Altenberg, Germany, monobob is on January 17 and the two-woman competition is scheduled for the following day on January 18.

IMAGES
Bree Walker in action (top) and leading the podium in St Moritz
© Viesturs Lacis/IBSF

The first IBSF World Cup for 2026 was held in Winterberg, Germany, where QAS pilot Bree Walker secured ninth place in the monobob event, while fellow QAS pilot Sarah Blizzard and brakewoman Desi Johnson achieved a personal-best 17th in the two-woman competition
 
In the monobob, Walker opened with the fifth fastest run in a time of 59.22 seconds, and in run two finished in 59.64 seconds which was the 12th fastest of the round, with her two-run time of 1:58.86 ranking her ninth overall. Blizzard finished in 24th place.
 
The victory went to Germany’s Laura Nolte, who finished 0.49 seconds ahead of Walker. Canadian Cynthia Appiah claimed silver, while another German, Lisa Buckwitz, rounded out the podium in third.
 
“In the two-woman event, Blizzard and Johnson opened with the 14th-fastest time in run one at 57.81 seconds, before clocking 57.88 in run two, the 19th-best of the round. Their combined time of 1:55.85 secured 17th place overall—their best World Cup finish of the season so far.
 
Walker and brakewoman Kiara Reddingius were first on track, posting 58.02 in the opening run for 19th place. They improved slightly in run two with 57.38, finishing 19th overall with a combined time of 1:55.85.
 
Germany’s Laura Nolte made it a double victory, leading a clean sweep of the two-woman podium alongside brakewoman Deborah Levi. Teammates Lisa Buckwitz and Kira Lipperheide claimed silver, while Kim Kalicki, partnered with Leonie Fiebig and Talea Prepans, rounded out the podium in third.
 
The next World Cup stop is at St. Moritz on the iconic hand-cut Celerina track, featuring the monobob event on January 11 and the two-woman competition on January 12.

Bobsleigh pilot Bree Walker and brakewoman Kiara Reddingius have achieved the best ever result for Australia in the two-woman or two-man event at an IBSF World Championships, with a remarkable fifth place finish in Winterberg, Germany.

The performance is the second top-5 for Walker at the World Championships, after the 31 year old finished in fourth place in the monobob last weekend. The result smashes her previous best 14th place finish, in her only other two-woman World Championship start in 2020.

Walker and Reddingius put down four competitive runs over two days of racing on the Winterberg track, to finish in a total time of 3:45.43 seconds, 1.44 seconds behind the eventual winner.

It was a German clean sweep of the podium on their home track, with Team Buckwitz winning gold, ahead of Team Nolte in silver and Team Kalicki with the bronze.

"The week was really good, training went well and we changed our sled setup and it just fit perfectly", said Walker.

"After the monobob I just had to reset and go again, and I could sense that Kiara was really excited for this week, and training was going well so we took that energy into the race and I am so happy with the result here. We were really consistent in our pushing at the start, and also in my driving, so I am over the moon."

"It was a whirlwind when we first started sliding together, and we jelled really quickly. From that point on we knew we could be a good team, it was just a matter of time doing more training and racing together."

I always knew I could be competitive in the two-woman as well as the monobob, I just needed to find my girl to help me do that, and I feel Kiarra is as competitive as I am, and it's so exciting to have a teammate who believes that we can be competitive with the best in the world."

Reddingius also commented after the race.

"I am really proud of us this season, our aim was consistency and we have nailed that at nearly every single race, especially here over four heats, it shows we can stay up there with the best in the world."

"This is our first season as a full team the whole time, so we will only go up from here."

Also competing for Australia was Sarah Blizzard and Desi Johnson who finished in 21st place, in their first two-woman World Championship race together.

The final round of World Cup competition will take place in Lake Placid, NY, USA on March 22-23. Walker is currently ranked fourth on the monobob standings, and could finish as high as second with a strong performance.

Bree Walker has come agonisingly close to a medal at the IBSF World Championships in Winterberg, Germany, missing the podium by just 0.07 seconds.

The fourth place result matches her previous best finish at a World Championships, where she had the same result last year in St Moritz, Switzerland, which is again the best ever result by an Australian bobsleigh athlete at a World Championships.

In the four run championship format, the QAS athlete performed well in her first three runs, highlighted by an exceptional third run where she had the second fastest run of the round.

Heading into the final run ranked second overall, Walker unfortunately had a mistake halfway down the run which made it difficult to recover enough speed to make the podium, and registered the seventh fastest time of the final run.
Walker finished with a four run combined time of 3:55.07 seconds, with the victory going to Laura Nolte of Germany in 3:54.77, Elana Meyers Taylor of the USA was second in 3:54.95 and German Lisa Buckwitz rounded out the podium in third with 3:55.00.

Also in action for Australia making her World Championship debut was Sarah Blizzard, who finished in 23rd place.

“It was a really tight race, and I knew it was going to be really tough and I was ready for that,” said the 31-year-old Olympian from Cairns.

“We did absolutely everything possible and left nothing to chance, I know how to execute a medal winning performance, so I just had to go out and do that, and unfortunately I just missed it, it hasn’t quite set in, but I am pretty heartbroken.”

“I made a mistake in that final run in a really important spot, and it cascaded down. You can’t make a mistake with these girls, everyone is driving so well and I ultimately paid the price and dropped to fourth.”

“My team is amazing, my coach goes above and beyond and I can’t thank Pierre (Lueders) enough for everything that he is teaching me, he is doing such a fantastic job coaching and running our team, it’s so professional.”

Next weekend sees the two-woman bobsleigh World Championship event take place at Winterberg on March 2-3, with Walker to be joined by brakewoman Kiara Reddingius. Sarah Blizzard will also be competing together with her brakewoman Desi Johnson.

“We have the two-woman coming up, and I am excited to get in and get going with that. The goal is to execute a really good race, the last time I competed in that event at the World Championships was in 2020 in Altenberg at my first World Championships, so I am excited to get in the sled and do that with Kiara next week.”