02/16/26 03:10:00
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02/16 15:08 CST Gold for Elana! Meyers Taylor, 41, wins Olympic monobob title
at Milan Cortina Games
Gold for Elana! Meyers Taylor, 41, wins Olympic monobob title at Milan Cortina
Games
By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Sports Writer
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) --- Elana Meyers Taylor has won World Cups, won
world championships, already was the oldest woman to win an Olympic bobsled
medal, recruited dozens of people to the sport and twice pulled off comebacks
after becoming a mother.
There was only one thing missing.
Not anymore.
The 41-year-old Meyers Taylor finally has Olympic gold --- her first, and one
that made her the oldest American woman to ever hear "The Star-Spangled Banner"
blare in her honor at the Winter Games. Rallying in the fourth and final heat,
Meyers Taylor won the women's monobob title at the Milan Cortina Games on
Monday night, dropping to her knees in tears when the result became official.
The winning time: 3 minutes, 57.93 seconds.
Germany's Laura Nolte was second and Kaillie Humphries Armbruster of the U.S.
was third.
Meyers Taylor had medaled five times before --- three silver, two bronze. She
was the most decorated Black athlete ever at a Winter Olympics even before this
win, and her place in history got a whole lot more dazzling on a frosty night
in the Italian mountains. And this medal, her sixth, tied Bonnie Blair for the
most by a U.S. woman in the Winter Olympics.
But gold made the moment all the more sweet.
Nolte led by 0.15 seconds going into the final run, with Meyers Taylor second
and Humphries Armbruster third --- 0.24 seconds off the lead. Barring big
mistakes, gold, silver and bronze would be theirs in some order; nobody else
was within six-tenths of a second of Humphries Armbruster, nor within about a
full second of Nolte's lead going into the final heat.
They go in reverse order in sliding. That meant Humphries Armbruster went first
among the final three, then Meyers Taylor, then Nolte.
Humphries Armbruster finished in 3:58.05, knowing she was assured of her fifth
career medal when she crossed the line. As the sled skidded to a stop, she was
already on her feet --- throwing her arms into the air, knowing at least bronze
was coming her way.
U.S. coach Brian Shimer, often stoic, starting punching the air in celebration.
And then the scene was set for Meyers Taylor, who held on to no worse than the
silver spot and wrapped herself in an American flag after hopping out of the
sled.
Nolte had the lead going into the last run. She just couldn't hold it.
Kaysha Love, the world monobob champion for the U.S. last year, had big trouble
in her second and fourth runs and finished seventh with a final time of 3:59.27.
Humphries Armbruster won the gold medal in the inaugural running of monobob at
the 2022 Beijing Games, with Meyers Taylor winning silver.
They became the first 40-something females to do so in women's Olympic bobsled
history. Meyers Taylor --- who already was the oldest woman to win a bobsled
medal, having been 37 at the Beijing Games --- is now 41, and Humphries
Armbruster is 40.
This is the fifth time that Meyers Taylor and Humphries Armbruster have
competed in the Olympics. Each has medaled in each of their previous four
appearances; Humphries Armbruster was also on the Canadian Olympic team in
2006, but did not race in those Turin Games.
They're now 5-for-5. And Meyers Taylor, finally, has the golden moment.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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