From Beijing, CHN
(February 13, 2022) – Prior the inaugural women’s monobob race it felt to many as though the race was wide open for one of a handful of sliders to win. With longtime veterans competing against young first-time Olympians it really was a wide open race.
At least it was until the second run of the race. In that run the American threw down a track record time, well ahead of most anyone else. After two runs she’d opened up a massive 1.04 second lead over the field.
As the women took to the track for the third heat it was going to take something spectacular to catch the two-time two-woman bobsled Olympic champion. Unfortunately for the field, it was Humphries with something special. After three runs she’d opened up her lead to 1.55 seconds and while she was only third quickest on her fourth trip down she still had plenty in the bank to win gold.
The gold for Humphries was her third in the Olympics in four starts. She’s never finished off of the podium in the Olympics.
Humphries was also the first non-German to win a gold medal in these Olympic games. As she received her gold her emotions were evident. After the medal ceremony she was asked about what was going through her head as she received her gold medal.
“A lot of things were going through my mind,” Humphries said. “It has been a journey to get here, and it hasn’t always been easy. I have had a lot of fears and doubts, highs and lows. And just the feeling of pride and accomplishment and just the fact that I never gave up on myself. That a country stood behind me and Iw as able to be here and put my best foot forward and to know that my best was the best in the world. It’s something I’ve always believed, but it’s also something I’ve doubted more times than not. To know that I’ve still got it is a really cool feeling. It’s so rewarding to bring home a gold medal for a country who has really stood behind me.”
Behind Humphries, there was quite the race for silver and bronze between Canada’s Christine de Bruin, Germany’s Laura Nolte and the United States’ Elana Meyers Taylor.
Of the three, Meyers Taylor had the quick time in the third heat to move up from fourth to third, .18 behind de Bruin. Nolte had a rough third run with a major hit and skid entering Curve 9 that dropped her to fourth.
On the final run Meyers Taylor once again was quick, this time with the fastest run of the heat to take the lead with only de Bruin and Humphries to go. While de Bruin was clean on her run, she couldn’t find the pace that Meyers Taylor had but held on to what would be third for a bronze medal and a North American sweep of the podium.
The medal for Meyers Taylor was her fourth in four Olympic races, and may have been the most special to her.
“This is the most special medal I’ve ever earned, just because the journey here was so hard,” Meyers Taylor said. “Every medal is difficult to achieve and isn’t without its struggles. But this one was especially difficult, so to come away with with this medal and know the journey I’ve been through, this is definitely the one that means the most.”
For de Bruin, who was never outside of the top four over the four heats, the key was to be consistent.
“I’ve been called “Mrs. Consistency” before,” she said. “And that’s what I wanted to do: Be consistent for those four runs. I could have done my push a little better, and I’ll work on that, but I’m happy with my race.”
Nolte finished fourth, .3 out of the medals. Australia’s Bree Walker finished fifth, while China’s Mingming Huai rounded out the top six.
Nolte was disappointed with her effort.
“The last run was pretty good, but the third one was bad,” Nolte said. “I made a huge mistake and knew it would be hard to catch the other girls. I wouldn’t be sad if I was perfect or showed my potential, but I drove bad in the middle two runs yesterday and today.”
Swiss slider Melanie Hasler entered the day in sixth place but had a rough third run to fall down the order. Her fourth run was outstanding, the sixth quickest, and moved her back up to seventh place.
Canada’s Cynthia Appiah had a tough couple of runs to start her Olympics. Her third slide was much better as she moved up from tenth to eighth, where she finished the race.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | IBSF Rank | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 | Run 4 | Total |
| 1 | Kaillie Humphries | USA | 5 | 2 | 64.44 | 64.66 | 64.87 | 65.30 | 4:19.27 |
| 2 | Elana Meyers Taylor | USA | 4 | 1 | 65.12 | 65.30 | 65.28 | 65.11 | 4:20.81 |
| 3 | Christine de Bruin | CAN | 7 | 4 | 65.12 | 65.02 | 65.38 | 65.51 | 4:21.03 |
| 4 | Laura Nolte | GER | 9 | 6 | 64.74 | 65.58 | 65.70 | 65.31 | 4:21.33 |
| 5 | Breeana Walker | AUS | 8 | 5 | 65.55 | 65.54 | 65.16 | 65.21 | 4:21.46 |
| 6 | Mingming Huai | CHN | 2 | 14 | 65.18 | 65.72 | 65.71 | 65.97 | 4:22.58 |
| 7 | Melanie Hasler | SUI | 12 | 10 | 65.18 | 65.86 | 66.21 | 65.56 | 4:22.81 |
| 8 | Cynthia Appiah | CAN | 6 | 3 | 65.75 | 65.53 | 65.78 | 55.98 | 4:23.04 |
| 9 | Qing Ying | CHN | 13 | 11 | 65.16 | 65.99 | 65.82 | 66.44 | 4:23.41 |
| 10 | Nadezhda Sergeeva | ROC | 10 | 7 | 65.45 | 66.00 | 55.83 | 66.31 | 4:23.59 |
| 11 | Margot Boch | FRA | 17 | 25 | 65.77 | 65.51 | 66.01 | 66.53 | 4:23.82 |
| 12 | Andreea Grecu | ROU | 14 | 13 | 65.56 | 65.71 | 66.46 | 66.26 | 4:23.99 |
| 13 | Mariama Jamanka | GER | 11 | 9 | 65.85 | 66.94 | 65.47 | 65.74 | 4:24.00 |
| 14 | Katrin Beierl | AUT | 16 | 16 | 65.39 | 66.00 | 66.57 | 66.56 | 4:24.52 |
| 15 | Giada Andreutti | ITA | 20 | 32 | 66.07 | 65.77 | 66.57 | 66.38 | 4:24.79 |
| 16 | Karlien Sleper | NED | 15 | 15 | 65.88 | 66.59 | 65.85 | 66.65 | 4:24.97 |
| 17 | Viktoria Cernanska | SVK | 18 | 26 | 65.75 | 66.41 | 66.62 | 66.47 | 4:25.25 |
| 18 | Yooran Kim | KOR | 1 | 22 | 66.68 | 67.02 | 66.41 | 66.41 | 4:26.52 |
| 19 | Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian | JAM | 19 | 28 | 66.63 | 67.38 | 66.92 | 67.63 | 4:28.56 |
| 20 | Lidiia Hunko | UKR | 3 | 31 | 66.34 | 67.84 | 67.47 | 67.45 | 4:29.10 |
