CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Elana Meyers Taylor’s two young sons watched her leap into the air, wave the American flag, then fall to her knees and cry. At 41 years old, the U.S. bobsledder is finally an Olympic champion.
Meyers Taylor won gold in monobob at the Milan Cortina Games on Monday night, rallying from second place on her final run to overtake Germany’s Laura Nolte by four hundredths of a second. Her four-run combined time of 3:57.93 edged Nolte’s 3:57.97 in one of the tightest finishes in Olympic bobsled history.
“I thought it was impossible,” Meyers Taylor said.
Watch: Elana Meyers Taylor Wins Gold in Monobob
Record-Breaking Run
The gold medal is Meyers Taylor’s sixth career Olympic medal — tying speedskater Bonnie Blair for the most Winter Olympic medals ever won by an American woman. She is also now the oldest woman to win an individual Winter Olympic gold medal, breaking a record set just days earlier by Austrian snowboarder Benjamin Karl.
“To have my name up there with Bonnie Blair, it doesn’t even make sense to me,” Meyers Taylor said.
A mother of two special-needs children whose career was jeopardized by concussions, Meyers Taylor entered the Milan Cortina Games with five previous Olympic medals — three silver, two bronze — across Vancouver (2010), Sochi (2014), Pyeongchang (2018), and Beijing (2022). Gold was the only thing missing.
USA Dominates Monobob
U.S. teammate Kaillie Humphries took bronze with a combined time of 3:58.05, giving Team USA two of the three podium spots. Through two Olympic Games, American women have claimed four of the six monobob medals ever awarded.
Nolte, who held the lead after each of the first three runs, was gracious in defeat: “Elana deserves it. She’s a super kind human and the gold was missing.”
| Place | Athlete | Country | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | Elana Meyers Taylor | USA | 3:57.93 |
| 🥈 | Laura Nolte | Germany | 3:57.97 |
| 🥉 | Kaillie Humphries | USA | 3:58.05 |
Monobob, a women’s-only event featuring a single driver in a lighter sled, is in its second Olympic Games after debuting in Beijing 2022. Humphries won gold in Beijing while Meyers Taylor took silver — making this a full role reversal four years later.
How Old Is Elana Meyers Taylor?
Elana Meyers Taylor is 41 years old. Born on October 10, 1984, in Oceanside, California, she is currently the oldest woman to win an individual gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games. She first competed at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics at age 25 and has now appeared in five consecutive Winter Games spanning 16 years.
Before bobsled, Meyers Taylor was a standout softball player at George Washington University. She transitioned to bobsled in 2007 and made the U.S. national team within a year. She is married to fellow bobsledder Nic Taylor and is the mother of two sons, both with special needs.
Sources: Associated Press, Yahoo Sports
