Veteran US Christian bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor (41), won her first Olympic gold medal in women’s monobob at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games, becoming the oldest Winter Olympic gold medalist in an individual event in history.

After five Olympic Games, 2 bronze and 3 silver medals, she won gold by 0.04 seconds over Germany’s Laura Nolte in the closest women’s bobsleigh finish in Olympic history. Fellow Team USA member, Kallie Humphries, came third.

Still fast. Still fearless. Still winning. ?

Elana Meyers Taylor is 41 and making history as the oldest U.S. woman to win a #WinterOlympics medal! pic.twitter.com/QlaDApIsHA

— Team USA (@TeamUSA) February 16, 2026

Right after her victory, she knelt down to pray for a moment. “I’m so excited to finally have a gold medal; all the years of effort finally paid off. I’m very grateful to have put everything together for a run I can be proud of”, Meyers Taylor told reporters after her victory.

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“I didn’t have to get it; I just wanted it. And that desire kept me moving forward. If I treated it as something I had to have, I probably wouldn’t have made it this far”, she added.

On her Instagram, Meyers Taylor posted a photo hugging her two boys alongside her nanny, whom she thanked for making it possible for her sons to travel with her throughout the season, and wrote: “The moment we prayed for. Glory to God”.

 

 

 

 

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Una publicación compartida de Elana Meyers Taylor OLY (@elanameyerstaylor)

“I am in this sport to glorify God”

The United States athlete is very outspoken about her faith in interviews and on social media. She always gives glory to God for her victories and shares how important He is in her life.

“I pray before every race, every time I walk to the line. And I work every day to try to live a life that's Christ-like”, she said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

Despite all of her success, “God put me here for a specific reason and I don’t think it is just to win medals. At the end of the day, I am in this sport to glorify God, so if that means I come in last place or I win the gold medal, that is what I am going to do”, Meyers Taylor pointed out in an interview with Athletes in Action.

A long faith journey

Faith has always been part of the life of the US athlete, who was raised in a Christian home. But when she was in college playing softball and wanted to become a professional softball player, Myers Taylor struggled with depression and an eating disorder and turned away from the faith.

She finally played professionally in Michigan after graduating from George Washington University, but still felt like something was missing in her life.

She started researching different religions and “all of a sudden I just started crying, and it just hit me that Jesus is the way. It was so strong and so powerful”, she recalled in a Athletes in action USA video.

She quit softball, started to bobsled in 2007 and debuted in the Olympics in 2010.

For Meyers Taylor, “one of the big reasons I was put in bobsled is to help people not only reach their goals, but come to Christ”.

Wife and mother

In addition to her sports career, Elana Meyers Taylor served as president of the Women’s Sports Foundation and consistently advocates for gender equity, athlete safety, and expanded opportunities for women in winter sports.

Married to doctor of chiropractic and professional speaker, two-time Olympian and former member of the U.S. bobsled team, Nic Taylor, they met at a Bible study near the US Olympic Training Center in New York in 2011 and got married in 2014, weeks after they got baptized together at a Baptist church in New York.

They have 2 sons. The first was born with Down syndrome and deafness, while their second son is also deaf due to a genetic condition.

This is her second Winter Games as a mother. “It is absolutely chaotic, but it is so important for me to have them there. After having them, them having disabilities, I'm here, because I want to show them that despite any challenges you have, you can keep going”, said Meyers Taylor in an interview with US TV channel NBC.