U.S. bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor seeks consistency in PyeongChang

For many an Olympic athlete, a silver medal is a dream realized, the culmination of a life of hard work and training and the crown jewel of a trophy case. For U.S. bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor, it conjures thoughts of what she feels was her disappointing performance at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

“It was great to walk away with the silver,” the 33-year-old product of Douglaston, Ga., says, “but I wasn’t satisfied with the way I performed. I wasn’t satisfied with my driving and so my biggest focus this Olympics is to really put together four great runs where I’m driving well. I want to walk away win, lose or draw with a good performance, and I don’t feel like I had that at Sochi, like I was a little bit inconsistent and that’s what caused me to not win the gold medal. But at the same time, you’re super-excited to still be able to make mistakes and win the medal at any stage.”

This week, Meyers Taylor and her push athlete Lauren Gibbs will take to the course at the Olympic Sliding Centre in PyeongChang, South Korea, in the second full week of competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics, which air on NBC, NBC Sports Network, CNBC, USA Network, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app.

Coming into these games, Meyers Taylor had registered but one win during the 2017-18 World Cup season, but that has left her far from discouraged. Her runs, she says, have been consistent and mistakes have been kept to a minimum. She also points out that she’s been experimenting with different partners and sled configurations.

“Some of them have worked, some of them have not worked at all,” she says with a laugh. “But that’s what you’ve got to do Olympic year.”

She knows her path to gold will not be easy. She sees stiff competition coming from Stephanie Schneider of Germany, who she says is “really hot” right now but is light on experience, and Canada’s two-time defending Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries.

“She knows how to get her four runs,” Meyers Taylor says. “She’s one of the most successful women in our sport so she’s always going to be the No. 1 competitor.”

“Four runs” is Meyers Taylor’s mantra. Get in four good runs, be consistent and avoid mistakes. The rest should take care of itself.

“It’s been kind of a crazy year but I think it’s all been working together to prepare me for whatever is going to happen at the Games,” she says. “That’s the biggest thing about the Olympics, is you never know what’s going to happen, so you have to be prepared for all kinds of possibilities . ... It’s all working to prepare you, that’s for sure.”