Jan 10 (Reuters) - Melanie Hasler clinched the European Championship gold in women's monobob on her home track in St. Moritz on Saturday, becoming the first Swiss athlete to win the title.
The race at the St. Moritz-Celerina Olympic Bobrun doubled as a leg of the 2025-26 IBSF World Cup, with the European title and medals awarded to the highest-placing Europeans.
Austria celebrated their first European Championship medal in women's monobob as Katrin Beierl claimed silver. Germany's Laura Nolte, the 2025 European champion, finished sixth in St. Moritz but secured the bronze medal as the third-best European in the field.
Australian Bree Walker stole the spotlight by setting a track record of 1:11.20 minutes and winning the IBSF World Cup race.
Women's monobob will feature on the Olympic programme for just the second time at next month's Milano Cortina Winter Games.
In the overall standings for the 2025-26 IBSF World Cup, Nolte leads with 1,246 points, ahead of Walker (1,219) and fellow German Lisa Buckwitz (1,128).
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon)
