Kaillie Humphries celebrates after the women's monobob finals at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Feb. 14, 2022 in Yanqing, China.
Kaillie Humphries admitted she feels much more relaxed than she has in a few years.
She no longer has to worry about issues related to her citizenship and immigration status. Now that she’s made the move from Canada to the United States, she can turn her attention to the upcoming bobsled season and starting a family as soon as it ends.
Humphries said she was relieved to have a few months to take it easy after winning the first-ever Olympic gold medal in women’s monobob at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 in February.
It was her third Olympic gold medal and the first for her as a member of the U.S. bobsled team. Her performance capped an emotional and often uncertain past few years for the Canadian-born Humphries as she fought to compete for Team USA.
“My down time was a recovery period, and my brain and my body needed it 100 percent,” Humphries said. “So for me, it was actually a really nice down time and recovery because I didn’t have that going into the Olympics at all.”
Humphries said she feels refreshed at age 37, and she’s excited to get back on the ice this season for the U.S. bobsled team. This is an exciting time for the four-time Olympic medalist and her American teammates as they welcome plenty of changes — both in their training and personal lives.
“I think we have some things in place this year to be successful, but at the same time, we have to keep in mind that the big goal is 2026 and even 2030,” said Curt Tomasevicz, a 2010 Olympic gold medalist who now serves as director of sports performance for USA Bobsled and Skeleton.
“We’re looking quite a ways ahead, and that includes looking at results that are on our development circuits in addition to the world cup and the world championships, too.”
The Americans open the season in North America, starting with this week’s North American Cup in Whistler, British Columbia — where Humphries won her first Olympic gold medal in 2010. The world cup season kicks off at the same venue on Nov. 24-26, then heads to Park City, Utah, and Lake Placid, New York.
“That in itself is a huge opportunity for us to kind of set the bar pretty high and get some good results where we’re pretty good on our home track,” Tomasevicz said. “So I think that is a pretty special part of our season.”
