Jan 17 (Reuters) - Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries marked a return to form three weeks before defending her gold at the Milano Cortina Games, clinching her first monobob win in nearly three years, while
Germany's Laura Nolte took the overall title at the IBSF World Cup final on Saturday.
Canadian-born Humphries, who won the first-ever Olympic gold in monobob for the United States at the 2022 Winter Games, was the fastest in both runs and finished in one minute and 58.97 seconds, beating Australia's Bree Walker by 0.13 seconds in Germany's Altenberg.
It was Humphries's first win in a monobob race since February 2023.
Humphries won gold for Canada in the two-woman events at Vancouver in 2010 and Sochi four years later, as well as a bronze at Pyeongchang in 2018, before switching allegiance to the U.S.
The 40-year-old took a season-long break from the sport in December 2023 during her pregnancy.
"I'm really happy with today. My drives were good, and we're still working on getting my pushes faster at the start. I think that's just coming back post-partum, taking it step by step," Humphries said.
"The goal was always to build each and every race throughout this year up until the Olympics, and I think we’ve been pretty successful at that, so to be able to win at monobob again is a really good feeling.
"We still have a lot of work to do but, overall, it continues to be steps in the right direction, which is great. I think this makes me the oldest World Cup winner in monobob to date... Age is just a number; it does not define us or limit us in anything."
Nolte finished third on the day, 0.19 seconds behind Humphries, but the result was enough to secure the overall title on home ground with 1,446 points from seven races.
It was another heartbreak for Walker as she finished second overall for the third year straight, scoring 17 points fewer than Nolte.
Nolte's compatriot Lisa Buckwitz finished third overall, ahead of fourth-placed Humphries.
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon)
