Elana Meyers Taylor and Sylvia Hoffmann pose for a photo at the IBSF Bobsled World Cup on Jan. 19, 2019 in Igls, Austria.
Make it four in a row for Elana Meyers Taylor.
A bout of flu that landed her in an Austrian hospital this week didn’t deter the three-time Olympic medalist from picking up her fourth consecutive world cup podium finish Saturday in Igls, outside of Innsbruck. Meyers Taylor paired up with Sylvia Hoffmann to take bronze behind two German pairs in two-woman bobsled.
It was the first world cup medal for Hoffman, a finalist on “Next Olympic Hopeful.” In the previous three events this season, Meyers Taylor had raced with Lake Kwaza, picking up two bronze medals and one silver.
The illness that limited Meyers Taylor’s training time to two runs this week in Austria didn’t deter her and Hoffmann, who sat atop the leaderboard after a blistering 53.04-second first heat, with the two German teams within .06 seconds. The Americans then turned in a time of 53.19, which was the third-best time of the second run, giving the duo a combined time of 1:46.23. That dropped them to third behind winners Stephanie Schneider and Ann-Christin Strack, who finished with a combined time of 1:46.06. Mariama Jamanka, who won the 2018 Olympic gold with Lisa Buckwitz, and Kira Lipperheide recorded 1:46.17 for silver.
Ever the contender, Meyers Taylor expressed dissatisfaction with her results in spite of her illness.
“It’s a great result for Sylvia, it’s her first World Cup medal and she performed really well today, but it’s not good enough for me. I’m pretty frustrated,” she told USA Bobsled and Skeleton.
The three-time Olympian has a great track record in Austria, having medaled in five of the six races she has participated in there.
Team USA’s Brittany Reinbolt and Jessica Davis finished seventh with an overall time of 1:46.86 in Davis’ second world cup.
Blythe Lawrence is a journalist based in Seattle. She has covered two Olympic Games and is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
