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AAP
AAP
Ian Chadband

Sledder Walker ends World Cup weekend with near-miss

Another landmark medla-winning weekend for hurdler-turned-sledder Bree Walker has ended with her again just missing out on an historic gong in the two-woman bob with her Australian teammate Kiara Reddingius.

The day after winning bronze in her specialist monobob event - a third straight medal for Walker that moves her into second place on the World Cup standings - she reckoned she had no expectations for Sunday's two-woman event in the Swiss resort of St Moritz.

But for the second time in the space of a month, Walker and push athlete Reddingius came close to earning Australia's first World Cup medal in the discipline,  eventually finishing fifth.

As German Olympic champion Laura Nolte, alongside Neele Schuten, took victory in 2 minutes 16.59 seconds across the two runs, the Aussie pair ended 1.13sec adrift.

Though they didn't get as close to a medal as in Innsbruck in December, Walker and Reddingius were only 0.75sec off making the podium, with the German No.2 pairing of Lisa Buckwitz and Lauryn Siebert coming second, and Switzerland's Melanie Hasler and Mara Morell third.

Buckwitz and Laura Nolte were the pair who had finished ahead of Walker in Saturday's monobob, with the Australian continuing to improve in both the singles and two-woman bobs at the age of 31.

Walker, who is only 47 points behind Buckwitz in the monobob standings, is now fifth in the two-woman standings after three events, 106 points behind Nolte. 

The World Cup circuit next moves on to Lillehammer in Norway in a fortnight.

Walker has never looked back since turning her sights from athletics, where she was a national medallist in the 400 metres hurdles before injuries forced her to concentrate on a new winter sports target.

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