Kaillie Humphries & Elana Meyers Taylor Win Gold & Silver In Inaugural Olympic Monobob

Elana Meyers Taylor celebrates during the Women's Monobob Bobsleigh at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Feb. 14, 2022 in February 14, 2022 in Yanqing, China.

For her part, Meyers Taylor, whose son Nico was born in February 2020, faced the challenges of returning to world-class competition after childbirth, then being a mom on tour during a global pandemic. She has paid for family members to fly to world cup events this season to care for Nico while she has trained and competed.

Then, upon her arrival in Beijing, the four-time Olympian tested positive for COVID-19 and was sent into isolation on January 31. On February 5 — just over a week before the first monobob heats on the Yanqing track — she was cleared to compete. 

Although she remained upbeat in isolation, it was rough, admitted Meyers Taylor. The longer she stayed in one room, the harder it became. She was chosen as Team USA’s flagbearer for the Opening Ceremony but had to watch it on TV. And she could only workout in the confines of her room. Worse, she was separated from Nico and husband Nic Taylor, who is an alternate on the U.S. men’s bobsled team here in Beijing.

“You go into the Olympics and you have everything regimented, you think you have everything under control,” she explained. “To have absolutely no way to control the situation, just waiting on test results day after day hoping you test negative, it was really hard mentally.”

The day before the monobob competition started, Meyers Taylor sat in the container that holds the team’s bobsleds. She told head coach Brian Shimer that she did not think she could compete the next day. Shimer won a bronze medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games driving a four-man bobsled for the U.S.

“I was that bad mentally,” Meyers Taylor confessed. “There was so much fog in my head from everything that's been going on. I was really questioning whether I should come out.”

Shimer reassured Meyers Taylor, and the rest of her team chimed in too.

“We got this, we're gonna do this,” Shimer said throughout the day.

Before the first monobob heats, Meyers Taylor asked Shimer to pick her sled’s runners.

“I looked at him and said, ‘You know what, I trust you with my life, I trust you with my son's life, choose the runners,’” she said, “and he shows me the runners.”

Olympic Monobob Competition

In the first heat of monobob yesterday, Meyers Taylor set a start record on the track but then had problems farther down the track. Next down the track, Humphries left her teammate’s start record intact but claimed the track record and stood in first. Meyers Taylor ended up tied for third with de Bruin in heat 1.

“Not too bad for a 37-year-old mom,” Meyers Taylor said about her start times. “I’m the oldest driver in the competition and the only one coming off a pregnancy, so I’m very excited about the starts. I knew with the lack of runs and with some of my struggles with monobob, I needed the start.”

By the end the first night, Humphries was leading by over one second and Meyers Taylor had fallen to fourth.

With such a large gap, Humphries allowed herself think about winning monobob’s first Olympic gold medal.

“I would think about it and then quickly remind myself that I have a lot of work to do to get to that point first,” she said. “And I have to focus on that work.”

Meyers Taylor had different thoughts. She decided to put the stress of the previous weeks behind her and just try to enjoy the experience. She had nothing to lose.

“For me, the difference between fourth and 20th place wasn't going to make a difference,” she said. “So all I had to do was lay it on the line, and that's exactly what I did. I just went out there, enjoyed the heck out of this race, and fortunately it paid off.”

In the third heat, Humphries again slid the fastest, and Meyers Taylor moved into medal contention with the second-fastest run, passing 2016 Youth Olympic Games monobob gold medalist Laura Nolte from Germany.

In the fourth and final heat, Meyers Taylor steered a cleaner run — the fastest of the day — and climbed into silver-medal contention, the relief palpable to all who saw her climb out of her sled.

“Today I will tell Nico that his mom fought hard, and she did everything she could to bring this medal home to him,” said Meyers Taylor, who had hoped to hold Nico on the medal stand.

For Humphries, this Olympic gold medal feels more emotional than the other two she has won.

“It just really hits the heartstrings a little bit to know that I had to fight so hard for something that I wanted,” she said, “and I had the backing and the support, and the nation stood behind me, and it worked.”

With four Olympic medals (and counting), Meyers Taylor is now the most decorated Olympic bobsledder in U.S. history, surpassing the late Steven Holcomb and 1948 and 1952 Olympian Pat Martin. Holcomb claimed gold in four-man at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, then two silver medals at the 2014 Winter Games. His unexpected death in May 2017 rocked the bobsled world, especially at home.

“It's bittersweet to break any of his records,” Meyers Taylor said. “Holcomb was such a special person to me, and he's part of the reason why I'm here. He guided me every step of the way in my career. I'd like to think he still guides me, and he still guides my husband too.”

Humphries became the first woman to earn Olympic Winter Games medals for two different nations. She won a pair of golds (2010, 2014) and a bronze (2018) in two-woman bobsled for Canada.

“Every single time I represented Team Canada, I did so with my heart and soul,” Humphries said. “The USA has my future, and every single time I stand on that podium, I am so proud to represent the United States.”

Want to follow Team USA athletes during the Olympic Games Beijing 2022? Visit TeamUSA.org/Beijing-2022-Olympic-Games to view the competition schedule, medal table and results.