CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy – German teams are setting the pace halfway through the two-woman bobsled competition at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympic Games, even as the American duo of Elana Meyers Taylor and Jadin O’Brien face a significant challenge after a costly mistake in their second run. Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi currently lead with a combined time of 1 minute, 53.93 seconds, followed closely by fellow Germans Lisa Buckwitz and Neele Schuten in 1:54.11.
The American team of Kaillie Humphries Armbruster and Jasmine Jones are currently in third place with a time of 1:54.16, making them the top-performing American sled in the competition. Kaysha Love and Azaria Hill of the U.S. Are fifth, just four-tenths of a second out of medal contention. The competition is fierce, and every tenth of a second counts as teams prepare for the final two runs on Saturday.
Meyers Taylor, a veteran of the sport and the monobob gold medalist at these Games, and her rookie brakewoman, Notre Dame track star Jadin O’Brien, struggled during their second heat. After a strong first run that placed them in fifth, just 0.22 seconds behind Humphries, a skid at the start of the second run proved detrimental. The pair hit the wall and lost valuable time, dropping them to 12th place 1.2 seconds off the lead, according to WNDU.
“I saw it going right to the wall. I tried to steer it away and just could not react in time,” Meyers Taylor explained to reporters at the Cortina Sliding Centre. “So we hit [the wall], skidded up the first curve, and after you do that, it’s game over. I tried to salvage the run as much as possible, but when you develop that kind of mistake, that is devastating. It’s just hard to fight back.”
Rookie O’Brien’s Olympic Debut
Despite the setback, Meyers Taylor remains optimistic. “You’re never out of it,” she said. “It’s a pretty intimidating lead, but at the end of the day, we get to go back and be in the sled. I’ve got two more runs at Olympic level, and I’m going to make the best of it. That’s all you can really do.” O’Brien, a three-time NCAA track champion, is competing in her first Olympic Games after an unexpected transition to bobsled sparked by an Instagram direct message, as reported by NBC Philadelphia. She has only raced twice in her career.
Faith and Resilience
The pairing of Meyers Taylor and O’Brien is notable not only for their athletic prowess but also for their shared faith. Both athletes have publicly spoken about the role of Christianity in their lives and careers. A recent article in Sports Spectrum detailed how the pair overcame a violent crash during training, an incident where O’Brien was ejected from the sled and briefly feared paralysis. The crash occurred during a World Cup training run in Switzerland in January.
Schedule for Saturday’s Final Runs
The women’s two-woman bobsled competition will conclude on Saturday with runs three and four. Run 3 is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Local time, and Run 4, the medal event, is set for 3:05 p.m. The German teams will be looking to maintain their lead, while the American teams will be striving to climb the standings and contend for a spot on the podium.
The outcome of Saturday’s runs remains uncertain, and the unpredictable nature of bobsled means that any team could potentially challenge for a medal. The focus will be on clean, consistent runs and minimizing errors as the athletes compete for Olympic glory.
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