Lolo Jones and Kaillie Humphries of the United States won the two-woman bobsleigh world championship on Saturday in Altenberg, Germany.
The American duo prevailed by 0.35 of a second over the German team, driven by Kim Kalicki and pushed by Ann-Christin Strack, combining times from four runs over two days.
Amid heavy snowfall, Humphries and Jones were fastest on three of four runs for a total of 3:48.26. European and junior world champion Laura Nolte with Levi Deborah of Germany finished 1.01 seconds off the pace for bronze.
The 38-year-old Jones, the push athlete for Humphries and one of 10 Americans to have competed in both the Summer and Winter Olympics, earned her first world title in an Olympic program event.
“I didn’t think I would be emotional,” Jones said. “I don’t know if the snow was hitting me at the braking stretch or if I was crying, but I think I was crying.”
Humphries became the first woman to ever win four world bobsled titles, surpassing Germany’s Sandra Kiriasis’ record.
“It’s such a huge relief,” Humphries said. “This was a giant team effort. To be able to cross the finish line and see that number one and know everything worked according to plan is the biggest relief ever. There’s a huge wave of happiness and elation that comes over you. It’s super cool to share this with Lolo and with Team USA.”
The team are expected to be among the top contenders next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, the same city where Jones clipped the second-to-last hurdle while leading the Olympic 100m hurdles final and finished seventh in 2008.
Jones returned to the Summer Olympics at London in 2012, then made the bobsleigh Olympic team for the Sochi Games in 2014. She withdrew from the 2016 US Olympic track trials while recovering from hip surgery and wasn’t picked for the 2018 Olympic bobsleigh team.
She was training for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which have been delayed a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Three-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor of the US, competing in only her fifth international competition since giving birth to her son, finished fifth with Sylvia Hoffman as her push athlete.
“I feel pretty good,” Meyers Taylor said. “One of the biggest things I came here to do was qualify for next year. I got all of my races in, and finished out on my toughest track. I would have liked to medal, but I’m proud of what me and Sylvia were able to do. I’m really proud of Kaillie and Lolo, it’s great to see the American flag raised.”
Said USA driving coach Brian Shimer: “We had two great feats this week. Kaillie won a repeat title, and Elana came back after having her son and was nipping at the medals. This is one of the greatest feats I’ve ever seen.”