CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Elana Meyers Taylor and Kaillie Armbruster Humphries are Olympic medalists once again.
The queens of bobsled finished first and third in the women’s monobob event Monday, Feb. 16 at the Cortina Sliding Center.
It was the first gold medal in Meyers Taylor’s legendary career, and her sixth overall, tying Bonnie Blair for most medals by an American woman in Winter Olympics history. Meyers Taylor also became just the second Black woman to win an individual gold medal in a Winter Olympics. She won her first Olympic medal (a bronze) back in 2010 in Vancouver.
‘I still can’t believe it. I still can’t even put into words what this means and having the gold medal,’ Meyers Taylor said, beaming. ‘It’s still surreal, but it still is everything and it still is nothing because at the end of the day, in six days I’ve got school pickups and drop-offs in the middle of Texas.’
Armbruster Humphries has now collected five medals from five Olympics, including the gold medal in monobob for Team USA at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. She also won gold medals in two-woman bobsled in Vancouver and the 2014 Sochi Games.
‘They’re all different. This one specifically is tied to the mom journey over this last year and a half,’ said Armbruster Humphries, whose son Aulden was born in June 2024. ‘There was no guarantee. And so I really came into this race just trying to be the best version that I could be for myself and for my son.’
Meyers Taylor and Armbruster Humphries both set track records in the third run to narrow the gap with Germany’s Laura Nolte of Germany, who led after each of the first three runs. Meyers Taylor had a great final run, putting pressure on Nolte to be clean if she wanted to win gold.
But Nolte made a significant mistake at the start and never recovered. Meyers Taylor finished with a total time of 3:57.93 across four runs, edging Nolte (3:57.97) by 0.04 seconds. Armbruster Humphries (3:58.05) finished 0.12 back.
Fellow Team USA bobsledder Kaysha Love finished seventh.
It’s the second event of the 2026 Winter Olympics in which Team USA put multiple people on the podium. Jaelin Kauf and Liz Lemley won silver and bronze, respectively, in women’s dual moguls Saturday, Feb. 14.
In six races at five Olympics, Meyers Taylor has never finished outside the top three, making her the most decorated woman in bobsled history. She won a silver medal in the inaugural Olympic women’s monobob event in Beijing four years ago.
Her latest triumph comes at age 41, just over three years after giving birth to her second son Noah in 2022. Both boys, including her eldest Nico (born in 2020), watched Meyers Taylor race from accessible seats at the Cortina Sliding Center.
‘My boys are my motivation for this. My boys are the reason I kept going,’ Meyers Taylor said. ‘At the end of the day, it means nothing because I’m still just mom to them. I got more bling to hang around my neck, but at the end of the day, they just want to be cuddled and held and that’s what’s going to happen.’
Armbruster Humphries, 40, debuted at the 2010 Olympics, competing for Canada in Vancouver, Sochi (2014) and PyeongChang (2018) before switching to Team USA in 2019. She was granted U.S. Citizenship in 2021, five years after moving to the United States with her husband Travis Armbruster in 2016.
Humphries underwent IVF treatment to become a mother after being diagnosed with stage IV endometriosis in 2021.
‘Similar to how my birth went, and just the IVF journey in general, there was no guarantee, and there’s no guarantee in medals,’ Armbruster Humphries said. ‘So I’m very proud to be able to have him and then be here. It’s kind of like my have my cake and eat it, too, moment.’
Meyers Taylor and Armbruster Humphries return to the track Tuesday, Feb. 17 for the first official two-woman training runs. Meyers Taylor will be accompanied by push athlete Jadin O’Brien, while Armbruster Humphries is paired with Jasmine Jones. Both O’Brien and Jones are Olympic rookies.
The first two of four heats are Friday, Feb. 20, while the third and final medal heat are Saturday, Feb. 21. All four runs will be added together, and the lowest total time will win.
Reach USA TODAY Network sports reporter Payton Titus at ptitus@gannett.com, and follow her on X @petitus25.
