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.
___
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
