The U.S. women have won medals at every Olympic Winter Games since women’s bobsled debuted at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Meyers Taylor and Humphries stand a good chance of keeping this streak alive.
Notably, their brakewomen — Sylvia Hoffman and Kaysha Love — are first-time Olympians. Returning Olympians Lauren Gibbs (2018 Olympic silver medalist) and reigning world champion Lolo Jones, who had hoped to finally win an Olympic medal where her journey began in Beijing as a member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic track & field team, were not named to the team. Aja Evans, 2014 Olympic bronze medalist, was named as an alternate to the 2022 U.S. Olympic bobsled team.
The U.S. men are not considered medal favorites at the 2022 Games. But don’t count them out. Veteran pilot Hunter Church recently finished on the podium for the second time and hopes to carry that momentum to the Beijing track.
In all, a dozen U.S. bobsledders qualified for the 2022 Winter Games: four women and eight men. They will compete in two events per gender. Unlike the regular world cup races, Olympic bobsled races involve four runs held over two days (rather than two runs in one day), making the sport even more mentally challenging. But Meyers Taylor and Humphries have been there before, as have a few of the brakemen.
Here’s a look at who is on the 2022 U.S. Olympic bobsled team.