Australian monobob sensation Bree Walker is heading into a well-earned white Christmas celebration with her family, riding a wave of confidence after cementing her status as the athlete to beat for gold at next year's Winter Olympics.
Back-to-Back World Cup Triumphs
The 33-year-old former hurdler sealed her second consecutive World Cup victory in Sigulda, Latvia on Saturday. This stunning win came just one week after she shattered records on her favoured track in Lillehammer, Norway.
In a nail-biting finish on the final World Cup stop before the winter break, Walker outpaced Germany's double world champion, Laura Nolte, by a mere 0.11 seconds across two runs. This triumph marks the fifth global gold medal of her burgeoning career.
A Dramatic Comeback on the Ice
The victory was far from assured after Walker's initial run. Despite hitting a peak speed of 114km/h, she found herself sitting in fourth place among the 21 competitors.
Undeterred, the Queensland-born athlete staged a remarkable comeback. She produced the fastest second-run time of the entire field, clocking runs of 53.12 seconds and 53.36 seconds for a combined time of 1 minute 46.48 seconds. This surge propelled her past Nolte (1:46.59) and Austrian Katrin Beierl (1:46.62) to claim the top spot on the podium.
"You just have to go for it," Walker said after her win. "I knew I made a few mistakes at the top in the first heat, so I knew I could win if I cleaned it up through the labyrinth area, so I was like, 'all right, just go for it' -- and I just gave it everything I had."
Focus Shifts to Family and the Olympic Dream
With this result, Walker has now achieved two wins and three podium finishes from her four starts this season. She now enjoys a ten-day Christmas break at her Canadian training base in Calgary before the competition resumes in Winterberg, Germany on January 3.
"I'll see my parents there. I haven't seen them since April," Walker shared. "They've flown all the way over from Australia to spend Christmas with me, gonna have some downtime with them for their first white Christmas -- a big change from Cairns to minus-20 degrees in Calgary -- so very excited to be with them."
This latest victory has major implications for the overall World Cup standings. Walker is now breathing down the neck of leader Laura Nolte, trailing by just three points (842 to 845). After four of the season's seven races, the title fight appears to be a two-woman battle, with a significant gap back to third-placed German Lisa Buckwitz on 760 points.
Walker ends 2025 feeling "on top of the world," perfectly positioned to turn her full focus towards striking gold at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in mid-February.
