For 16 years, an Olympic gold medal remained the only accolade missing from the career of Elana Meyers Taylor, the most decorated female bobsledder in the history of the sport. That changed on Monday at the Milan Cortina Games when Meyers Taylor secured a first-place finish in the monobob event, marking her first Olympic title in six career medals.

Meyers Taylor entered the final day of competition trailing Germany’s Laura Nolte. During a third run on Monday, Meyers Taylor delivered a track-record time of 59.08 seconds, which trimmed the lead to 0.15 seconds. In the fourth and final heat, she maintained a solid pace to finish with a four-run total time of 3 minutes, 57.93 seconds. Nolte, the final slider of the night, hit the side of the track during her last run, resulting in a total time of 3:57.97 and moving her into the silver medal position.

The victory by 0.04 seconds makes Meyers Taylor, 41, the oldest American woman to win a gold medal at the Winter Games.This sixth career medal ties Meyers Taylor with Bonnie Blair for the most Winter Olympic medals won by a U.S. woman. 

Already recognized as the most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympics history, Meyers Taylor reached the top of the podium after a quadrennial marked by physical recovery. She gave birth to her second son in November 2022 and has frequently discussed the logistical and physical challenges of returning to elite competition shape following pregnancy.

Meyers Taylor has also navigated a career impacted by concussions and the aging process in a high-impact sport. Despite these obstacles, her performance in Italy solidified her standing in the record books.