Elana Meyers Taylor won her second Olympic medal at the Beijing Games on Saturday, claiming bronze in the two-woman bobsled alongside U.S. teammate Sylvia Hoffman. Previously, Meyers Taylor won silver in the monobob.

The medal gives Meyers Taylor the fifth of her Olympic career and the most of any Black athlete in Winter Olympics history. She is the first woman bobsledder ever to win two medals in a single Games.

The duo’s time of 4:05.48 was about a second-and-a-half behind the German silver-medal team of Mariama Jamanka and Alexandra Burghardt. The other German team of Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi took home gold.

Kaillie Humphries, Meyers Taylor’s teammate in the monobob, and Kaysha Love finished in seventh.

While Meyers Taylor is still undecided about her future, Humphries revealed after the race that she intends to make a run at the 2026 Olympics in Milan-Cortina.

Kaillie Humphries won gold on Sunday in the first-ever women’s monobob event at the Olympics. United States teammate Elana Meyers Taylor earned silver, becoming the oldest American woman to medal at the Winter Olympics at 37 years old.

As a result, Humphries and Meyers Taylor became the first women to medal in bobsled at four straight Olympics.

Meyers Taylor, who was in fourth place after her first two runs, made up time during her third and fourth runs to finish in 4:20.81, just ahead of bronze medalist Christine de Bruin of Canada.

Humphries dominated the field, winning by a margin of 1.54 seconds, the largest in Olympic bobsledding in 42 years. She also became the first American to win gold for two countries — USA and Canada — at the Winter Olympics. Humphries, a three-time Olympic medalist and five-time world champion, became an American citizen last December and began competing for Team USA after accusing Canadian bobsled coach Todd Hays of mental and verbal abuse.

Humphries and Meyers Taylor will now pair up for the two-woman bobsled event, which begins Friday.

Kaillie Humphries is off to a strong start in the Olympic debut of women’s monobob in Beijing.

The reigning world monobob champion, Humphries finished two runs on Sunday in a time of 2:09.10. The American currently holds a massive 1.04-second lead over second-place finisher Christine de Bruin of Canada, who completed her runs in 2:10.14.

Germany’s Laura Nolte came in third with a time of 2:10.32. Three-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor of Team USA finished fourth in 2:10.42. She sits nearly a half-second ahead of fifth-place sledder Huai Mingming of China.

In the first Olympics for women’s monobob, a one-woman bobsled event, Humphries is also competing as an American citizen for the first time. Born and raised in Canada, Humphries gained U.S. citizenship in December.

The medal runs are scheduled to take place Monday in Beijing.

Team USA bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor said she has produced two negative tests after testing positive for COVID-19 and has been given the go-ahead to compete in the Winter Games.

Meyers Taylor announced the news on Weekend TODAY on Saturday, one day after giving up her role as flagbearer at the Beijing Opening Ceremony due to COVID-19 protocols.

The 37-year-old revealed she’d tested positive for COVID-19 in an Instagram post published on Jan. 31 after first producing a positive test on Jan. 29, two days into her stay in Beijing.

Meyers Taylor has been posting her hotel-room workouts to social media, staying fit and ready for competition even when her Olympic hopes were in doubt.

“I also have tons and tons of video from our coaches who’ve just been doing everything they can to keep me engaged and keep me involved,” Meyers Taylor told TODAY. “So I’ve just been going over that as much as I can and watching video and doing whatever I can to stay ready.”

The 2022 Beijing Winter Games marks the star bobsledder’s fourth Olympics, earning two silver medals and one bronze medal across three competitions. Meyers Taylor will now hope to bring home gold in Beijing to complete her bobsledding Olympic medal trifecta.

Team USA unveiled its Olympic women’s bobsled team on Monday, featuring nine sliders who weren’t a part of the U.S. roster at the 2018 PyeongChang Games.

Elana Meyers Taylor headlines the team heading to the Beijing Winter Games, making her fourth Olympic appearance. Kaillie Humphries will also compete in her fourth Olympics, but Beijing will be her first as an American after she gained citizenship in December.

“The selection committee met to thoroughly deliberate who should be nominated to this team, and it wasn’t an easy decision,” USA Bobsled and Skeleton CEO Aron McGuire said. “We are fortunate to have a deep talent pool, but that makes it really difficult to decide who gets selected.”

First-time Olympians Kaysha Love and Sylvia Hoffman were selected as a push tandem over medalists Lauren Gibbs and Aja Evans, who made the team as an alternate. Olympic veteran Lolo Jones was also left off of the Beijing roster.

Nigerian bobsledder Simidele Adeagbo became the first African, male or female, to win an international bobsled race when she came in first at Winterberg on Friday.

The 40-year-old Canadian-Nigerian won the women’s monobob at the Europe Cup in Germany and had to use her own flag during the medal ceremony because there was no Nigerian flag on hand.

“No matter how unexpected my victory may have been for some, it was a shining moment in which my dream became a reality,” Adeagbo wrote on Instagram.

In 2018, Adeagbo became the first Nigerian to compete at the Winter Olympics and the first to race in the Skeleton event when she finished in 20th in PyeongChang.

A University of Kentucky alum, she is seeking to qualify for the Beijing Games, which open on Feb. 4.

Elana Meyers Taylor returned to the winner’s circle on Sunday, earning her first World Cup women’s bobsled victory in nearly three years.

Meyers Taylor and teammate Lake Kwaza finished two runs in a time of 1:41.88, outracing the British duo of Mica McNeill and Adele Nicoll, who finished second in 1:42.10. Canadians Christine De Bruin and Kristen Bujnowski came in third with a time of 1:42.12.

Meyers Taylor had gone 11 straight starts without a World Cup win prior to Sunday. Sunday’s victory gives Meyers Taylor the 19th of her career and first at the World Cup since February 2019 in Lake Placid.

For Kwaza, it is her second World Cup gold after winning with Meyers Taylor in 2019.

Fellow Team USA pilot Kaillie Humphries, who officially became an American citizen in early December and can now compete for Team USA at the Olympics, was off for the weekend to extend her holiday break.

There are just two stops left on the World Cup bobsled and skeleton circuit, beginning Saturday in Winterberg, Germany. The season ends on Jan. 15-16, weeks before the Winter Olympics kick off in Beijing on Feb. 4.

World champion bobsledder Kaillie Humphries is officially an American citizen.

Humphries was sworn in as a citizen in San Diego on Thursday, enabling her to compete for the U.S. at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Not long after her citizenship meeting, the bobsledder was on a plane back to Europe for the weekend’s World Cup stops. On Saturday, she’ll attempt to meet international qualifying standards for the Olympics.

A two-time Olympic champion and three-time Olympic medalist for Canada, Humphries won the right to slide for the U.S. in 2019 after she left the Canadian team to find a safer work environment. The 36-year-old has been involved in a lengthy and ongoing dispute with Canadian bobsled officials over what she has said was an environment in which she was verbally abused, mentally abused and harassed.

“It was a long journey, this has been a team effort and feels amazing to have the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” Humphries said.

Now the bobsledder is able to head to Beijing for Team USA – increasing the team’s medal hopes in monobob and women’s bobsledding.

“It’s going to inject some enthusiasm into the team,” U.S. bobsled coach Mike Kohn said. “It’s going to let Kaillie be herself again. She’s had this on her mind all year. And now such a weight is off her shoulders.”

Kaillie Humphries and Lolo Jones paired to win a historic two-woman bobsled world championship on February 6th. For Humphries, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, it was her fourth world championship. For Jones, it was the biggest win in her second-career after she picked up the sport a decade ago. They spoke with Just Women’s Sports about their historic win and what comes next as they prepare for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. 

First off, congratulations to you both. I read somewhere that Kaillie, you messaged Lolo on Instagram to get her to come back to bobsledding a few years back. Can you both give your side of that story? 

Kaillie: I met Lolo through bobsled years ago going into the Olympic year. I was with Canada, she was with the USA going into 2014. So we had known of each other, had conversations, had chatted, just being in the sports world. And then fast forward to me joining team USA last season. Going into this summer, I had messaged Lolo just to see where she was at. I knew she was training for Tokyo, but with Tokyo being postponed a year, I just wanted to see if she was coming back to bobsleigh. And if that was at all an interest for her.

I had raced with one of her former teammates in Canada. So I’ve had a feeling that pairing my steering with her speed could be a really good combination. I always admired Lolo for her athleticism and just being a really strong, motivational, powerful athlete. And so I messaged her and we started talking about her coming back, what that would look like. And so I’m very grateful that she trusted me and the coaching staff and the team and took that risk and felt safe to come back.

 

Lolo, what was that like from your perspective, getting that message and having those early conversations?

Lolo: It was basically what Kaillie said. We met as competitors. Actually, my job was to make sure that we put the biggest gap on her when she competed for Team Canada, that’s just how good of a driver she is. We were always like, “You have to put the gap on her because she’s such a good driver. Just put as much as you can on her.” My job was to make her have really bad days.

So when she messaged me after crossing over to the USA, honestly, I can only describe it as like Usain Bolt sliding into your DMs and asking you to be on a 4×100 relay race. And that’s essentially what it was like, I almost dropped my phone. I was like, “Is this really happening?” She’s one of the best drivers, not only for Team USA, but in the history of bobsled. So any brakeman would be honored to get in her sled.

But it was by no means easy, we’re making it sound like it was easy, but she recruited me. But that doesn’t mean I was guaranteed to be in a sled. There were levels to this where I had to either prove myself or beat someone or have a good result to actually end up in her sled. But that’s the long short story.

 

And what do you think allowed you to find such quick chemistry?

Kaillie: Personality wise, how we approach our sport is very similar. I think just mentally, the fierceness, the intensity that we bring, the determination — we are very detailed personalities and are always pushing for perfection. And so I think right from the get go, there were certain aspects of Lolo I could see and understand, and it just felt comfortable being around her.

Like she said, there were definitely some obstacles and some hurdles, and we both had to work individually at the beginning of the season. But then once we were able to come together and reach a certain point, I think a lot of it was a feeling of comfort and understanding for one another, a willingness to push for each other, and then just having trust and faith in the other person. You wanted to compete for them. I didn’t want to just win. I wanted to win alongside Lolo.

 

Kaillie — you’re now the only woman to win four world championships. Now that you’ve had some time to process that, what does it mean to you? 

Kaillie: A little bit of relief comes with that from the standpoint of, “I always believed in myself and that I could be one of the best in the sport.” I’ve worked extremely hard to put myself in this scenario. This is my life and everything that I do. So to be amongst some of the best is just a really cool feeling. And it does feel like there’s a payday at the end. It’s not monetary, it’s not something tangible, but just the feeling that it worked.

The plan was there for all those years, all those hard days, all those times away from family, from friends. It definitely is a big relief, but also it’s a super cool feeling. It does provide a lot of confidence to know I can jump in a sled and I am one of the best, I can trust my abilities a little bit more. I think I have more confidence in myself for sure after having won this. I have more confidence in my ability as a driver, as a female, in who I am and what I stand for and what I represent. I feel a lot stronger in my feelings and my faith with that.

 

And Lolo, I know you have a unique story as well. You’re now a world champion in two different sports, and have won those titles across three different decades. 

Lolo: I’m old, thank you. [Laughs]

 

You started competing in bobsledding almost a decade ago. What has kept you motivated throughout these years?

Lolo: I think as an athlete, we kind of get this stigma that we’re washed up, we’re not of value as we get older. So I embrace that. I mean, Kaillie is 35. So it’s kind of cool to achieve these goals at a later stage.

I’m thrilled that I was able to win this championship with Kaillie and over three decades, it just shows the longevity of my career. But what it probably doesn’t show is all the time in between the losses, the nights where I wondered if I should give up. One of my favorite quotes is, “Never tease an old dog because they might just have one bite left in them.”

That’s for anybody going for a dream who feels like they’re washed up or that they don’t have what it takes anymore. I just tell them to keep pushing. Cause that’s what me and Kaillie are doing. And we’re quite successful at it.

You were training for one last Summer Olympics bid, after which you were on an MTV reality show before jumping into Bobsled camp. How were you able to make that transition so quickly and successfully? 

Lolo: Was definitely not quickly. It definitely put Kaillie at a hindrance, for sure. Because of the quick turnover, I’m not at the weight I need to be for bob, so we actually had to put quite a bit of weight in the bob this year. So that means I had to have help pushing it. Now back in Boston, I’ll be able to put on the weight gain so that we don’t have to do that.

 

Kaillie, I understand that you’re still waiting for a citizenship decision which will determine whether you can compete for the US at the Olympics next year. Can you give us an update as to what that timeline looks like?

Kaillie: I cannot give you an update because there is none. My application is in, but unfortunately COVID shut down immigration and the government for a period of time this summer. So we’re still in the process of understanding where I’m at. That’s something that my lawyer is working on right now. So we don’t have an exact timeline. There is no exact date. There is nothing official as of now because there’s still a backlog of stuff. And they’re trying to sort through a whole mess of, like I said, immigration as a whole across the entire country. And so where I fall into that, it’s still pretty unknown at this time. At this point, we’re just waiting for a decision.

 

Assuming it all works out, this will be your first Olympics competing for the US. You’ve obviously competed in the Olympics before and won a fair share of medals. But what would it mean to compete for the US in China?

Kaillie: Well, I think, honestly, it will be a huge honor to represent such a strong nation, such a strong country. Those are huge shoes to step into, and it’s not lost on me. And I’m extremely proud to represent the USA right now, to represent it on the world stage, to know that I feel like I leveled up.

I’m proud to live and represent the United States. It is my home. It is where I live now. I married an American, so this is very much my life. I think just being proud is the biggest thing I can say overall. Now, it will be a first, for sure, but I’m not new to the Olympic world. This world is still the same. So I’m excited for the opportunities, for the chance to potentially bring home medals for the United States in this sport and to show as you know, we’re very strong, proud athletes and females within this sport. And we can do anything we set our mind to.

 

How are you both preparing for 2022 now? 

Lolo: For me, I need to focus on properly gaining weight. And then mentally, I just have to prepare myself, because I’m going to be returning to where my first Olympics was. I competed in the Summer Olympics in Beijing, which everybody kind of knows is where I hit a hurdle, and that cost me the Olympic gold medal.

So I’m going to fight like hell to earn my spot on the team, to go back there and just have redemption. I don’t want to just go and win a medal. I want to go and win a gold medal. Because of what happened, I am just going to work my tail off to make sure I’m in the position to do that.

Kaillie: And the cool part is, Lolo is not going to be alone this time. Not that she was last time, but it’s not going to be just her. We have a very, very strong women team heading to 2022. The team is one of the strongest women bob teams in the world. So we’ll be there to support Lolo. Everybody has their individual goals, myself included, but as a women’s group, as a women’s team, we are extremely strong. And so that’s very motivating for me specifically. I think I definitely want to go, win an Olympic gold medal in 2022. It’s not just showing up and making the team. I lost that in 2018. I was a champion before, but somebody else got it last time. So I want it back. That’s my goal.

 

Was there anything else that you wanted to bring up that I didn’t mention at all?

Lolo: I just hope there are women out there that are just inspired. If they can look at Kaillie and just see her dominance and see how she was able to break history and just be really spot on at the prime of her career — that’s incredible. And I hope it inspires women to just keep reaching for new levels. And then I hope that they see my story and know that through it all, through the ups and the downs, they just need to keep pressing. Because both of us have gone through a lot of hardships and I know it may seem easy, but it wasn’t. So just keep fighting.