Two, Women

Held for the seventh time at the Olympic Winter Games, the two-woman bobsleigh event in Cortina featured 50 athletes from 14 countries in 2026, marking the largest field to date.

The two-woman bobsleigh event began with a surprise, when veteran Kaillie Humphries at her fifth Olympic Games and at the age of 41, clocked the fastest time and set a new track record in run one with her new brakewoman Jasmine Jones. The heavy favourites, however, were the reigning world champions and 2022 Olympic gold medallists in this event, the Germans Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi, who were also the winners of the last three World Cups and leaders in the current World Cup. But Nolte confirmed the vote of confidence by winning the next three runs, winning gold comfortably with a total time of 3:48.46.

Silver went to another German sled, Lisa Buckwitz and Neele Schuten, who moved from third in run one to second after run two, increasing the lead over Humphries bit by bit to 22/100th of a second in the total. Prior to the final run, Germany was still hoping for a clean sweep with Kim Kalicki and Talea Prepens, just 9/100th of a second behind Humphries, but the Americans held the Germans at bay and secured the bronze.

For Germany, it was their third consecutive gold. Nolte and Levi defended their gold from Beijing 2022 after Nolte claimed a silver in the monobob a few days earlier, having already won gold in the monobob 10 years prior at the Winter Youth Olympic Games. Buckwitz had won gold with pilot Mariama Jamanka in PyeongChang in 2018, but after competing as the brakewoman for Kalicki, she switched to the steering. Schulten and Jones had their Olympic debut at the brakes.

For Humphries, it was her second appearance representing the United States after three for Canada. She increased her all-time medal tally to three gold and three bronze medals. Over the course of her Olympic career, she has competed in seven events and medaled in all but one, cementing her status as the most successful female bobsleigh pilot.

An unfortunate loser was fourth-placed Kalicki, repeating her rank from the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, where she was also beaten by a US team with pilot Elana Meyers Taylor, who was ninth in Cortina. The places one to four went to the same countries as at Beijing 2022, with Germany placing one-two-four and the United States in third. Poland, Taipei and Slovakia entered two-woman bobs for the first time since the event was introduced in 2002. Like in Beijing, no teams from the Caribbean or Africa competed.

Germany could celebrate their second consecutive 1-2 finish, a feat that was only achieved by Canada on their home track in 2010. For Germany, it was the fourth gold compared to Canada’s two and the United States’ one. Germany and the United States both won eight medals in total, with Canada trailing with four. Apart from these three countries, only Italy could ever win a medal in this event, a bronze at Torino 2006.