U.S. wins women's bobsled bronze, giving Elana Meyers Taylor historic 5th Winter Olympics medal

USA's Elana Meyers Taylor won a historic bronze medal at the two-woman bobsled event, becoming the most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympics history with five medals.

Meyers Taylor, teaming up with bobsledder Sylvia Hoffman, finished at 4:05:48. She punched her fist in the air as she reached the finish line.

Last week, Meyers Taylor, 37, tied speed skater Shani Davis' record for the most medals — four — when she won silver in the women's monobob event, which debuted in Beijing.

USA's Kaillie Humphries, who won the first ever gold medal in the women's monobob event, finished seventh. Germany went 1-2, with Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi taking gold, and Mariama Jamanka and Alexandra Burghardt taking silver.

Heats 1 and 2 on Friday put Meyers Taylor and Hoffman in bronze-medal position, finishing at 2:02;79 — just 0.74 seconds behind the gold-medal position — after two clean runs. In the final two runs on Saturday, the American duo kept the momentum going, retaining their bronze-medal position after their third (their fastest one at 1:01:13) and fourth run (1:01:56).

Meyers Taylor is now a silver and bronze Beijing Olympics medalist, but she almost didn't make it to the start-line of the races. Soon after she landed in Beijing, she tested positive for COVID-19, having to isolate from her son, Nico, for more than a week. She was able to provide two negative tests before training for bobsled began, and was cleared to compete.

The 37-year-old four-time Olympian then came out to win silver in the inaugural edition of the women's monobob, right behind teammate Humphries. She yelled «We did it,» as she came up to the finish of the final run, knowing everything it took for her to medal there.

Meyers Taylor is a three-time