Australian sledder Bree Walker has had to reacquaint herself quickly with the Olympic track in Lillehammer before speeding to a fourth straight World Cup monobob medal.
The track athlete-turned-bobsleigh star added another silver to her collection in Norway on Saturday, following her second-place finish in Innsbruck in December, and the bronze medals she took in St Moritiz and another Innsbruck race.
Her consistency is such that the 31-year-old from Melbourne has now finished n the top-five in every one of the five World Cup monobob races this season, and lies second-equal in the battle for the overall title.
But this one particularly delighted her as it was her first competition in Lillehammer since November 2019 when she was learning her trade on the second-tier Europe Cup circuit.
She also managed to defeat Germany's 2018 Olympic gold medallist Lisa Buckwitz by one-hundredth of a second in the battle for silver on Saturday, though she finished 0.42 seconds behind eventual American winner Kaysha Love.
“It's been really fun here this week, I haven't slid here since 2019, and I actually couldn't remember the track last week when we came here for training ahead of the World Cup,” said Walker.
“My coach Pierre Lueders and I both had to relearn it together as he hasn't slid here since 1998, so it was a fast learning curve for both of us.”
Walker had been tied with Canadian Cynthia Appiah in the second fastest time (54.41sec) in the opening run, and had the third fastest time on her second outing in 54.53.
Walker now has 1004 points along with Love in the overall standings, with Buckwitz still leading the pair on 1043 points.
On Sunday, she will once again seek an elusive podium spot alongside brakewoman Kiara Reddingius in the two-woman bob in Lillehammer, with the pair seeking to improve on their current fifth spot in the rankings.
"We have had a really good training week here and both of us are really enjoying siding at the moment”, she said.
