At 41, American Elana Meyers Taylor captures her 1st Olympic monobob title | CBC Sports

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Elana Meyers Taylor’s two younger sons watched her leap into the air, throw her fists skyward, wave the American flag, then fall to her knees and begin to cry.

In time, they’re going to perceive what they noticed.

They noticed historical past.

The 41-year-old United States bobsledder — a mom of two special-needs kids, an athlete whose profession was jeopardized by concussions, somebody who handled loads of doubt lately — is, lastly, an Olympic champion. Meyers Taylor gained the gold medal in monobob on the Milan-Cortina Video games on Monday night time, her sixth profession medal and first Olympic title.

“I believed it was unattainable,” Meyers Taylor mentioned from Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

She was by no means happier to be unsuitable.

She turned the oldest American lady to listen to The Star-Spangled Banner performed in her honour on the Winter Video games. Rallying within the fourth and closing warmth, Meyers Taylor prevailed with a four-run, two-day time of three minutes 57.93 seconds.

Meyers Taylor had medalled 5 occasions beforehand — three silver, two bronze. She was essentially the most embellished Black athlete at a Winter Olympics even earlier than this win, and her place in historical past bought an entire lot extra dazzling on a frosty night time within the Italian mountains. And this medal, her sixth, tied Bonnie Blair for essentially the most by a U.S. lady within the Winter Olympics.

“To have my title up there with Bonnie Blair, it does not even make sense to me,” Meyers Taylor mentioned.

Nolte silver ‘nonetheless an ideal end result’

Germany’s Laura Nolte, the chief after the primary, second and third runs, was second (3:57.97) and Kaillie Humphries Armbruster (3:58.05) of the U.S. was third.

“I am a bit unhappy as a result of now in the mean time it appears like I misplaced gold, and never that I gained silver. In just a few hours I feel I can have a good time it, as a result of it is nonetheless an ideal end result,” Nolte mentioned. “Elana additionally deserves it. She’s a brilliant variety human and she or he has gained silver for a lot of occasions now and the gold was lacking.”

Humphries Armbruster, the previous Canadian Olympian, took gold within the inaugural occasion at Beijing 2022 when she turned the primary lady in Olympic historical past to win gold medals for 2 totally different nations. The four-time Olympic medallist gained her first two gold with her native Canada earlier than switching over to the U.S. following a harassment declare and dispute with the Canadian federation.

It was the fifth profession medal for Humphries Armbruster. She’s 40 and about 18 months faraway from changing into a mother. She technically turned the primary lady 40 or older to clinch an Olympic bobsled medal, since she completed her competitors precisely two minutes 29 seconds earlier than Meyers Taylor crossed the road to hitch the 40-something medal membership.

That is the fifth time that Meyers Taylor and Humphries Armbruster have competed within the Olympics. Every has medalled in every of their earlier 4 appearances; Humphries Armbruster was on the Canadian group in 2006 however didn’t race in these Turin Video games in Italy.

They’re now 5-for-5. And Meyers Taylor, lastly, has the golden second.

“I did not want it,” Meyers Taylor mentioned. “However I needed it.”

Melissa Lotholz positioned sixth (3:59.24) and Cynthia Appiah thirteenth (4:01.13) for a rebuilding Canadian group utilizing 2018 hand-me-down sleds from the big-spending Germans, whose deep pockets maintain them on the reducing fringe of bobsled engineering.

Canadians have medalled at every Video games since ’06

Canadian bobsledders have gained not less than one medal in each Video games since 2006, together with two bronze in 2022. However heading into the Milano-Cortina Olympics, no Canadian group had completed larger than sixth in a World Cup occasion.

The lone podium end result was Appiah’s monobob silver in Winterburg, Germany in early January.

Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton misplaced $1 million in funding earlier than this season whereas group charges ballooned to $25,000 per athlete, CBC Sports contributor Morgan Campbell famous final week.

A revised set of objectives from Canadian rivals heading into Milano Cortina, Campbell wrote, had been extra centered on course of than outcomes.

Canada fifteenth after 2 runs of 2-man bobsled

Earlier Monday, Germany occupied the highest three spots within the opening two heats of two-man bobsleigh.

Johannes Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer led the way in which in a single minute 49.90 seconds.

Canada’s prime sled was fifteenth, piloted by Calgary’s Taylor Austin, with Shaq Murray-Lawrence of Scarborough, Ont., as brakeman. They clocked 1:52.25, 2.35 seconds behind the Germans.

Jay Dearborn of Yarker, in Jap Ontario, and Ottawa’s Mike Evelyn had been twenty second of 26 groups in 1:53.33.

Heats 3 and 4 are Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET and three:05 p.m.