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U.S. bobsled team named for 2022 Winter Olympics; Four-timers Humphries and Meyers Taylor aim for gold

Posted at 9:08 AM, Jan 17, 2022
and last updated 2022-01-17 21:21:46-05

Coming off the heels of a winning weekend for the United States' top bobsledders – Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor went one-two in the International Bobsled Federation's final seasonal World Cup race in St. Moritz, Switzerland – the United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation announced 12 American athletes will appear at the 2022 Winter Olympics:

Women
Sylvia Hoffman
Kaillie Humphries
Kaysha Love
Elana Meyers Taylor

Men
Hakeem Abdul Saboor
Hunter Church
Frank Del Duca
Kris Horn
Jimmy Reed
Carlo Valdes
Charlie Volker
Josh Williamson

Push athletes including Lolo Jones and Olympic medalists Lauren Gibbs and Aja Evans were notably missing from the roster.

The United States has qualified two spots for each event: women's monobob, two-woman, two-man, and four-man. 

SEE MORE: Bobsled 101: Who's Qualified for Team USA?

Both Meyers Taylor and Humphries boast impressive stats and achievements ahead of the Games. Meyers Taylor won four monobob events during the latest World Cup series, and came out on top in the season’s rankings. She won only one two-woman race in Sigulda, but still managed to claim that event’s title as well. 

Meyers Taylor – who’s won three consecutive Olympic medals starting at Vancouver 2010, including back-to-back two-woman silver at Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018 – was often the only mother in the field this season. She gave birth to her son Nico in early 2020. 

SEE MORE: PyeongChang 2018: Elana Meyers Taylor brings home silver

Meanwhile, Kaillie Humphries – who just recently earned U.S. citizenship, and previously competed for Canada – has an Olympic pedigree of her own. She’s earned gold-gold-bronze in the last three Games’ two-woman competitions. In this season's monobob series, Humphries scored 1052 points to Meyers Taylor’s 1110 – strong enough for a solid second overall. She placed fifth in the two-woman, though she missed a competition in Sigulda that potentially could have boosted her ranking.

Either Meyers Taylor or Humphries (or both) could lead Team USA to multiple bobsled medals next month. The first women’s monobob heats take place on Saturday, February 12th at 8:30 p.m. ET, and the final is scheduled for the following evening at the same time – immediately following Super Bowl LVI on NBC. 

 

SEE MORE: Meet the Athletes: Kaillie Humphries

SEE MORE: Kaillie Humphries gets first win since becoming U.S. citizen

Sign up to stream every event at the 2022 Winter Olympics LIVE on Peacock. Users can authenticate via TV Everywhere to stream events in the NBC Sports app or on NBCOlympics.com. Click for a full bobsled streaming schedule on NBCOlympics.com.

SEE MORE: Who's qualified for Team USA at the 2022 Winter Olympics?