Elana Meyers and Jamie Greubel pose for a portrait ahead of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games on Feb. 3, 2014 in Sochi, Russia.
Elana Meyers Taylor continued storming through the women’s bobsled word cup, taking her third straight gold medal Friday in Königssee, Germany, to lead a double medal performance for Team USA as Jamie Greubel Poser took silver for her fifth podium of the season.
The U.S. pilots set themselves up for an exciting showdown at next month’s world championships, which will be held Feb. 17-26 on the same track. It could mark the first time the U.S. has two sleds on the two-woman world championships podium.
"I'm super excited," Meyers Taylor said to USA Bobsled & Skeleton. "I have some kinks to iron out before world championships, and this week gave us an opportunity to push full speed and take trips at full speed to test equipment. There's always room for improvement. Jamie and me are going to get after it, and I think it will be even closer at world championships."
Posting the fastest start time of the first run, Meyers Taylor and Kehri Jones led the field with their time of 50.36 seconds, 0.13 ahead of teammate Greubel Poser and Aja Evans and 0.21 up on the Canadian sled of Kaillie Humphries, the two-time Olympic champion who leads the world cup standings.
The reigning Olympic silver medalist and 2015 world champion, Meyers Taylor had the best start and fastest time in the second run as well to pull away from the field, finishing with a 1:41.01, 0.26 ahead of Greubel Poser, who took bronze at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Humphries struggled in her second run, allowing Germany’s Mariama Jamanka to slip ahead to claim bronze on home ice.
It is Meyers Taylor’s fifth straight podium since crashing at the end of her first run at the season opener in Whistler, British Columbia, resulting in a disqualification that is the only thing standing between her and the top of the world cup standings. She is the only women’s driver to take three consecutive golds during the past three seasons, and she’s done it three times, opening the 2014-15 season with three wins in a row, then closing that season in the same fashion.
Humphries holds onto the series lead with 1,236 points, but Greubel Poser narrowed the gap to only 17 points with 1,219 points. Austria’s Christina Hengster had her lowest finish of the season (eighth) and now is only 11 points ahead of Meyers Taylor for third place in the standings. Hengster has 1,106 points to Meyers Taylor’s 1,095.
