Bobsled 101: Since PyeongChang

Learn about what's happened with the top athletes in bobsled since the 2018 Olympic Games. (Usa Today Sports)

Who's Back

Germany's Mariama Jamanka, the gold medalist in the two-woman event alongside Lisa Buckwitz, also won the event at the 2019 World Championships. More recently, she tied for bronze at the European Championships. 

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American star Elana Meyers Taylor, a three-time Olympic medalist, is vying for a spot in Beijing. She took the 2019-20 season off and gave birth to her first child with fellow bobsledder Nic Taylor in early 2020, but returned to competition for the 2021-22 season. In June 2020, Meyers Taylor penned a first-person essay on TeamUSA.org detailing instances of racism she experienced in the sport, prompting USA Bobsled & Skeleton to launch an investigation. 

Lauren Gibbs, who competed with Meyers Taylor in PyeongChang, won gold at the 2020 World Championships as the brakewoman for Kallie Humphries. 

Humphries, a bronze medalist in the two-woman event for Canada, switched to representing the United States in 2018 because of abuse and harassment she alleges she faced within Canadian bobsledding. Her status for the Beijing Games is in limbo, however, as she is still awaiting U.S. citizenship and has asked the International Olympic Committee to let her compete without a U.S. Passport. In the interim, she's won three world titles: in the two-woman event in 2020 and 2021, and in the debut of women's monobob in 2021. 

Since tying for gold in the two-man competition in 2018, Canadian driver Justin Kripps picked up a silver medal in the two-man event at the 2019 World Championships and a bronze in the four-man. 

German driver Francesco Friedrich has continued to clean up, winning gold in the two-man and four-man events at the 2019, 2020 and 2021 World Championships. Brakeman Thorsten Margis was a part of five of those events -- all but the two-man contest in 2021. 

Oskars Melbardis, the driver of the bronze medal two-man team, took bronze as part of the four-man Latvian team at the 2018 European Championships and finished 30th on the 2019-20 World Cup circuit. 

New Faces

In addition to Meyers Taylor and Humphries, Brittany Reinbolt was selected as the third women's pilot on the 2021-22 U.S. National Team. While Reinbolt hasn't competed at an Olympics, she has been a top competitor for years, including a fifth-place finish at the 2019 World Championships.


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