Germany lands more gold, more history made by Meyers Taylor

BEIJING — Laura Nolte and Mariama Jamanka added to Germany’s record haul of Olympic medals.

Elana Meyers Taylor extended her medal record, too.

The German sliding domination of the Beijing Games continued Saturday, with Nolte driving to gold and Jamanka winning the silver in the women’s bobsled competition — and Meyers Taylor, in possibly her last race, grabbed the bronze for the fifth medal of her Olympic career.

That’s more than any Black athlete in Winter Olympic history, the most by any women’s bobsledder at the Olympics and two more than any other Olympic bobsledder, male or female, has won for the United States.

“That is overwhelming,” Meyers Taylor said. “It’s so crazy to hear that stat and know that I’m part of a legacy that’s bigger than me.”

Nolte and Deborah Levi won with ease, finishing four runs in 4 minutes, 3.96 seconds. Jamanka, the 2018 Olympic champion, and Alexandra Burghardt were second in 4:04.73. Meyers Taylor and Olympic rookie Sylvia Hoffman were third in 4:05.48.

With a fifth medal — clearly, Meyers Taylor wasn’t disappointed whatsoever.

Meyers Taylor smacked the top of her sled in celebration as she crossed the line knowing that the medal was clinched, hopped out and gave Hoffman a hug before throwing her fists into the air.

“I went with the fastest woman out here, because I’m the fastest brakewoman out here,” said Hoffman, who wants to start driving.

Germany’s Kim Kalicki finished fourth in 4:06.28, Canada’s Christine de Bruin was fifth in 4:06.37, Switzerland’s Melanie Hasler drove to sixth in 4:06.83 and the U.S. team of monobob gold medalist Kaillie Humphries — battling a right leg injury that adversely impacted her start times — and Olympic rookie Kaysha Love fell to seventh in 4:07.04.

“It hurts, I won’t lie,” Humphries said. “I gave every ounce of everything I had to the last two days and it wasn’t there. I’m proud of the work that we put in and what we put into it. It sucks and it’s infuriating to know that it wasn’t good enough, but at the end of the day, that’s racing. We can’t be fearful of not being the best. Both Kaysha and I had giant targets on our back coming in and I’m so proud of what we did together.”

Meyers Taylor will carry the U.S. flag into the Closing Ceremony on Sunday. After two weeks of driving fast, a nice slow walk might be the perfect way to transition into whatever comes next.