Two U.S. moms in their 40s rocketed to gold and bronze in Olympic bobsled showdown

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — In a nail-biting, four-heat race that boiled down to a contest against a pair of top German sliders, Americans Elana Meyers Taylor, 41, and Kaillie Humphreys, 40, secured silver and bronze medals Monday night on the icy track in Cortina.

Meyers Taylor came from behind in the fourth and final heat, gliding and banking cleanly into the steep curves and dropping smoothly into the track’s straight-aways to win her first career gold. German Laura Nolte, age 27, took silver.

With this win, Meyers Taylor, who has two sons, built on her record as the Black athlete with the most Olympic medals in Winter Games history, with a gold, three silver and two bronze.

Humphries, who gave birth to her son in 2024, now has 3 Olympic gold medals and 2 bronze.

This is the pair’s second Olympics in a row to find their way to the podium in the single-person “monobob” race, in which a single athlete pushes and then steers the bobsled down the track.

At the 2022 Beijing Games, Humphries won gold in the event. Meyers Taylor tested positive for Covid and was forced to train while isolated in her hotel room. She was cleared just in time to race, capturing silver.

The two women are also widely credited with helping convince the International Olympic Committee to add the women’s monobob event to the Winter Games, bringing the sport into parity with men’s events.

“The women before me have allowed this to happen and I want to make sure that continues for all future generations,” Humphries said after her 2022 win.

Both women have spoken publicly about the challenges they’ve faced building careers as elite athletes while also parenting. Humphries was diagnosed with endometriosis and underwent IVF treatments before her child was born.

“I got back in the bobsled 4 1/2 months postpartum, so it wasn’t the ideal timeline,” Humphries said before the games. “I’m not a spring chicken anymore.”

“It’s been quite a bit on my body,” said Meyers Taylor, citing years of breastfeeding, lack of sleep, back pain, and getting older. “But I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”