Elana Meyers Taylor Makes History After an Unforgettable Olympic Gold Win

For years, Elana Meyers Taylor stood among the most decorated athletes in Olympic bobsledding. At the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games, she delivered a performance that reshaped her legacy.

After five Olympic medals and more than a decade at the top of bobsledding, Elana Meyers Taylor delivered a performance on February 16, 2026, at the Milano Cortina Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, that had spectators holding their breath until the final seconds.

At first, it did not look like her night. But what happened in the final heat changed the course of her Olympic story.

How the Final Heat Unfolded

According to a post from Team USA's official X account, Meyers Taylor captured her long-awaited medal at her fifth Winter Olympics. It was a breakthrough moment years in the making.

The celebratory graphic shows Meyers Taylor standing confidently in a navy blue bobsled suit, helmet in hand, and smiling straight at the camera.

Behind her, massive gold letters spell out GOLD against a backdrop of snow-covered mountains, underscoring the scale of the achievement. The journey to that medal, however, was anything but easy.

As reported by NBC News, Meyers Taylor trailed Germany's Laura Nolte by 0.15 seconds heading into the fourth and final heat. In a sport measured in hundredths, that gap can feel enormous.

Instead of folding under pressure, she attacked the final run.

When the sleds crossed the finish line for the last time, Meyers Taylor surged ahead by just 0.04 seconds, clinching victory in one of the tightest finishes of the Games.

The comeback was decisive. The significance, however, went even deeper.

Making Olympic History

Meyers Taylor completed the four-run competition in 3:57.93, rallying in the final heat to take control, according to ESPN's coverage of the race.

By claiming the title, she became the oldest American woman to win a Winter Olympic event and hear "The Star-Spangled Banner" played in her honor.

At 41, in a speed-and-power sport often dominated by younger athletes, she redefined what longevity can look like at the highest level.

Ahead of the competition, she said the only people she felt she had to prove anything to were her sons, Nico, 5, and Noah, 3, amid continued questions about her age.

"Nobody in their right mind would say, 'Hey, a 41-year-old woman is going to have a shot at another Olympic medal in a speed and power sport,'" she said. "I want my children to know that people told their mom that it can't happen and then she went for it anyways."

That motivation became visible moments after the race. Following the medal ceremony, Meyers Taylor celebrated with Nico and Noah waiting just beyond the track barriers. She explained:

"This is definitely the top, not only the Olympic champion, but to be able to do this with my kids, both my kids like it's just incredible."

Even in victory, she downplayed the spotlight and emphasized how quickly life would return to normal.

She said that while the gold medal means "everything" in the moment, she knows she will soon be back in the school drop-off line, where most people may not even realize what she just accomplished.

Meyers Taylor's teammate Kaillie Humphries, who won bronze in the monobob, framed the moment as something bigger than a medal.

"All those people, those haters, that like to say, once you're 40, you're over the hill, or once you become a mom, you can't be back on top of the podium. I think that's not true," Humphries said, referring to their recent performances.

The International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation echoed that sentiment on Instagram, posting, "It took a while, but she did it! 🥇✨" alongside a celebratory image.

In the photo, Meyers Taylor clutches her gold medal with visible relief and joy. She shared that she felt both exhausted and exhilarated, explaining that as the adrenaline faded, the reality of finally achieving gold after years of hard work began to sink in.

Long before she became one of the most accomplished athletes in bobsleigh history, Meyers Taylor was chasing a different Olympic dream.

Where It All Started

As reported by WABE, Meyers Taylor began playing softball at age 9 and later attended George Washington University on a scholarship.

After falling short of making the U.S. Olympic softball team, she pivoted.

"My parents saw bobsled on TV, said, 'Hey, want to try this sport?' and I said, ‘Sure, why not?'" she recalled. "I googled it, emailed the coach, got invited to a tryout and the rest was history."

That spontaneous decision sparked a career that would redefine her path.

According to her official biography on the Olympics website, she first made her mark at the 2009 World Championships, winning silver in the two-woman event — a breakthrough that launched her Olympic career.

A year later, she earned bronze at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, beginning a run that would include podium finishes in Sochi and PyeongChang.

The 2014 season marked a turning point. Along with winning Olympic silver in Sochi, she became one of the first women to compete with and against men in international four-person bobsleigh competition.

She went on to capture world championship titles in 2015 and 2017, including the first two-woman world gold for the United States.

At Beijing 2022, she became the most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympic history after winning silver in the inaugural monobob and bronze in the two-woman event. In five Olympic races across four Games, she had never finished outside the top three.

She also helped advocate for the inclusion of monobob, which made its Olympic debut in 2022 — a milestone that reflected years of work behind the scenes.

That advocacy was part of a career shaped by bold decisions, beginning with the leap from softball to bobsled. And now, that journey includes gold.

After years of silver and bronze finishes that kept her within reach of the top step, Meyers Taylor now adds Olympic champion to her resume — a history-maker and a mother who proved that persistence does not expire with age.