Elana Meyers Taylor Wins Dramatic Come-From-Behind Monobob Gold at 41
Elana Meyers Taylor captured her first Olympic gold medal in a stirring finish Monday night (ET) at the Milan Cortina Games, rallying on the final run to claim the monobob title. The 41-year-old’s victory — a narrow, late surge — added a sixth career Olympic medal and cemented her place in U. S. Winter Games history.
Clutch final run turns silver into gold
Meyers Taylor entered the fourth and final heat sitting in second, chasing Germany’s Laura Nolte, who had led through the first three runs. Kaillie Humphries, the other American contender, had already secured a podium spot with a strong third-run finish. With the leaders due to go in reverse order, Humphries rode first and ensured at least bronze. Meyers Taylor followed and produced a clean, controlled descent.
The four-run total of 3 minutes, 57. 93 seconds was enough to edge out Nolte by just hundredths of a second and move Meyers Taylor from silver position to gold. As the final times settled, Meyer Taylor leapt from her sled, waved an American flag, fell to her knees and wept — emotions amplified by the presence of her two young sons at the track.
“I thought it was impossible, ” Meyers Taylor said after the run. The breakthrough completed a quest that had eluded her through multiple Games; she had stood on Olympic podiums five times previously without the top spot.
Milestones, resilience and a growing legacy
The victory carries historic weight. Meyers Taylor’s sixth medal ties her with a storied U. S. winter athlete for the most Winter Olympic medals by an American woman. At 41, she also joins the select group of older athletes claiming Olympic hardware in sliding sports, a milestone that chips away at conventional expectations about age and elite performance.
Her path here has not been smooth: concussions and questions about the longevity of her career threatened to derail her ambitions. Yet the mother of two rebounded and arrived at this Games with determination engraved in her runs. Teammate Humphries — herself a recent mother and a bronze medalist at this event — noted how both athletes defy narratives that suggest age or parenthood signal the end of peak performance.
Coach Brian Shimer, typically reserved, openly celebrated the outcome as the final leaderboard took shape. The U. S. finished with two athletes on the podium, underscoring the team’s depth in women’s sledding events.
What the result means for monobob and Team USA
Monobob, now in its second Olympic appearance, remains a focal point for women’s sliding competition. The discipline, featuring a single driver in a lighter sled, has quickly become a showcase for driver skill and consistency. With this result, American athletes have captured a large share of the event’s Olympic medals to date, reinforcing the country’s strength in women’s bobsled disciplines.
For Meyers Taylor personally, the gold fills a career gap and reshapes the narrative of her Olympic journey: from multiple silvers and bronzes to a champion who delivered when it mattered most. As the anthem played and she stood with her flag, the moment read as a culmination of persistence, precision and poise — a late-career triumph that will be replayed as one of the night’s defining images.
Germany’s Nolte took silver and Humphries earned bronze, both offering gracious praise for Meyers Taylor’s performance. The narrow margins and emotional conclusion underscored how small differences on the ice can determine Olympic destiny.
