Jan 17 (Reuters) - American Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries marked a return to form three weeks before defending her gold medal at the Milano Cortina Games, clinching her first win in nearly three years, while Germany's Laura Nolte took the overall monobob 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.
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)
