(L-R) Elana Meyers Taylor and Lake Kwaza celebrate at the Luge World Cup on Dec. 15, 2018 in Winterberg, Germany.
Elana Meyers Taylor and Lake Kwaza have their first hardware of the season.
The decorated bobsled veteran and the rookie making her world cup debut teamed up to win bronze in an extremely close women’s race in Winterberg, Germany, on Saturday.
Their time of 1 minute, 53.65 seconds was just .08 seconds behind winners Stephanie Schneider and Ann-Christin Strack of Germany, who finished in 1:53.57, and .01 seconds behind another German duo and the reigning Olympic champions, Mariama Jamanka and Annika Drazek, with a time of 1:53.64.
Meyers Taylor had a disappointing season opener last weekend when she was disqualified for an underweight sled in Sigulda, Latvia. There would be no such issues in Winterberg, where they posted the second-fastest start time of the first heat and ended in the No. 3 spot. They shaved some time of their start in the second heat and turned it up even more, charging to the finish in 56.69. It was the fastest time of the day.
Brittany Reinbolt and Lauren Gibbs, with whom Meyers Taylor won the silver medal at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, finished just out of the top 10 in 11th place.
Later in the day, Meyers Taylor also raced in a four-woman world cup event for the first time ever.
Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
