Nolte wins Olympic bobsled gold, Humphries Armbruster wins 6th medal, Meyers Taylor mulls her future

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Germany's Laura Nolte didn't let this lead get away. She's golden, again.

And Kaillie Humphries Armbruster of the U.S. has a new favorite number — six, as in the number of Olympic bobsled medals now in her collection.

Nolte is now the back-to-back two-woman Olympic bobsled champion, holding off teammate Lisa Buckwitz to grab gold at the Milan Cortina Games on Saturday night.

Nolte — the winner of the last four World Cup two-woman titles — cemented her status as the sport’s current queen, teaming with Deborah Levi to win her second consecutive two-woman gold medal by finishing four runs in 3 minutes, 48.46 seconds. Levi was in her sled for the golden ride in 2022 as well.

“It means a lot, and even to defend it together as a team again is so cool," Nolte said. "It was such a fun race and we had to keep our nerves together until the very last corner, until the very last run, but it was amazing.”

Buckwitz, with Neele Schuten in her sled, was second in 3:48.99. Humphries Armbruster and Jasmine Jones — two mothers in the same sled for the U.S. — finished third in 3:49.21. It was the sixth Olympic medal for Humphries Armbruster, tying monobob gold medalist Elana Meyers Taylor for the most by any woman in the sport’s history.

“Just knowing Jasmine was behind me, knowing what this meant for us as a team, I really wanted it for her more than for myself," Humphries Armbruster said. "She gave everything she did and entrusted me to do the same. That’s what teamwork’s really about. I couldn’t have done this with anybody else, and I didn’t want to do it with anybody else.”

Humphries Armbruster hasn't made any decisions on her sliding future. Meyers Taylor seems a whole lot closer to making her choice.

“It’s been a hell of a journey. I can’t even put into words what it’s meant to be able to do this for so long,” a teary Meyers Taylor said. “To be able to represent my country and be able to slide ... I don’t know if this is the end. It kind of feels like it is.”

Also for the U.S., Kaysha Love — who has been dealing with a hamstring issue for much of the season and had it flare up again in Italy — and Azaria Hill finished fifth in 3:49.71.

“Azaria and I haven’t been doing this long enough to be anything other than proud,” Love said. “This is only my third season driving. It’s only her third season pushing. The people we’re up against have 20 years of experience. I want to be frustrated because I think that we expect greatness out of each other.”

Meyers Taylor and Jadin O’Brien, who were doomed by a second-heat skid at the top of the track Friday night, got a few spots back in the standings Saturday and finished tied for seventh in 3:50.49.

Germany now has six bobsled medals in these Olympics, while the U.S. has three and the rest of the world has zero. The divide might get bigger on Sunday in the final sliding event of the Milan Cortina Games; Germany, which already swept the two-man race, is in position to do the same thing in four-man after Saturday’s opening two heats of that competition.

And Germany is now up to 17 sliding medals, counting bobsled, skeleton and luge, at Milan Cortina — one more than the rest of the world. Austria has five, the U.S. now has four along with Italy, Britain has two and Latvia has one.

“We knew we had to get one,” U.S. coach Chris Fogt said.

The two-woman race was basically for the bronze going into the final run.

Nolte — who had the lead, albeit a much smaller one, going into the final heat of the monobob competition that Meyers Taylor ended up winning — led Buckwitz by 0.35 seconds going into the last heat. Buckwitz’s lead over Humphries Armbruster was 0.19 seconds, and Humphries Armbruster was only 0.09 seconds up on Germany’s Kim Kalicki in the race for the bronze.

Kalicki’s final time: 3:49.36. It wasn’t enough to catch Humphries Armbruster, who hopped out of the sled and wrapped herself and Jones in the American flag, knowing the medal was theirs.

Humphries Armbruster’s updated Olympic medal count: three golds, three bronzes.

“Six,” Humphries Armbruster said, “is my new favorite number.”

Meyers Taylor is 41, Humphries Armbruster is 40. Meyers Taylor is a mother of two, Humphries Armbruster has one son, and both women are talking about how they would like to add another baby to their families.

That means Saturday night might have been the last on the Olympic stage for them — and maybe on any sliding stage.

“I hope everyone gives E the credit, the honor, the glory that she deserves, because she laid it out there," O'Brien said of her sledmate. “No one really knows what goes on behind the scenes, but I can tell you that this woman put her blood, sweat and tears into this sport.”

It was the 177th race — counting World Cups, world championships, the short-lived monobob World Series and the Olympics — for Meyers Taylor at the major international level. She has 78 medals from those races, six coming in the Olympics, and was a winner either as a driver or pusher in three different decades.

And for Humphries Armbruster, who won three Olympic medals for Canada and now has three more for the U.S., the numbers are even more gaudy: 105 medals in 218 major international races, with 49 of them victories.

“I can't tell if I’m happy or sad, I just don’t even know right now," Meyers Taylor said. "I’ve had an incredible career. I’ve been able to do some amazing things, meet some amazing people, and I gave it everything. I gave every last thing. I don’t think there’s anything more I could possibly give. I’m proud. I’m proud of us. I’m proud of the way we fought.”

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Germany's gold medalists Laura Nolte, left, and Deborah Levi celebrate after the two women bobsled competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

United States' Elana Meyers Taylor, right, and Jadin O'Brien start for a two women bobsled run at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

United States' Kaysha Love, right, and Azaria Hill start for a two women bobsled run at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

United States' Kaillie Armbruster Humphries, left, and Jasmine Jones, right, arrive at the finish during a two women bobsled run at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

United States' Kaillie Armbruster Humphries, left, and Jasmine Jones arrive at the finish during a two women bobsled run at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Germany's gold medalists Laura Nolte, left, and Deborah Levi celebrate after the two women bobsled competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

MILAN (AP) — Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo set the record for the most golds by one athlete in a single Winter Olympics as the Norwegian star completed his historic gold medal sweep of the men’s cross-country skiing events on Saturday.

Klaebo’s triumph in the 50-kilometer mass start race was his sixth victory at the Milan Cortina Games and shattered the nearly 50-year record set by American speed skater Eric Heiden, who won five golds in the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.

Klaebo’s teammates, Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, took silver, and Emil Iversen won bronze in a Norwegian sweep.

The win extends Klaebo’s record for most career Winter Olympic gold medals to 11 over three Games. The previous record had been eight, which Klaebo broke Feb. 15.

Klaebo has the second-most Olympic golds overall. U.S. swimming great Michael Phelps has 23.

Jordan Stolz missed out on his chance to become the first man since 1994 to collect three gold medals in long track speedskating at one Olympics, with the American finishing fourth in the mass start behind 40-year-old champion Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands.

Bergsma is the oldest man to win a speedskating gold, finishing ahead of Viktor Hald Thorup of Denmark and Italy's Andrea Giovannini.

The gold in the women’s mass start also went to a Dutch skater: reigning world champion Marijke Groenewoud. Ivanie Blondin of Canada was the silver medalist for the second Games in a row, followed by Mia Manganello of the U.S. with the bronze.

The United States Olympic team won its record-breaking 11th gold medal of the Games when the trio of Kaila Kuhn, Connor Curran and Chris Lillis took the title in mixed aerials.

The 11th gold breaks the country’s record set at the last Olympics on U.S. soil — in Salt Lake City in 2002.

Finland won the bronze medal in men’s hockey at the Olympics for a third consecutive time with NHL players participating, beating Slovakia 6-1.

Erik Haula scored two goals and Joel Armia had a goal and two assists for Finland, which also got bronze in Sochi in 2014 and in Vancouver in 2010, and left Turin in 2006 with silver.

The U.S. faces Canada for gold on Sunday.

The Canadian men beat Britain for gold in curling while the women's team overcame its disappointment to beat the U.S, for the bronze.

Brad Jacobs’ team defeated Bruce Mouat’s all-Scottish squad 9-6 inside Cortina’s historic ice arena to give curling powerhouse Canada it’s only gold of the Olympics in the sport.

In the women’s event, top-ranked Canada won 10-7 to deny the American women their first medal in the event.

Rachel Homan’s team had been upset by Sweden in the semifinals.

Kaillie Humphries Armbruster won her sixth career Olympic bobsled medal, tying monobob gold medalist Elana Meyers Taylor for the most by any woman in the sport’s history.

The American claimed bronze in the two-woman race, behind Laura Nolte — who successfully defended her title — and Lisa Buckwitz.

Emily Harrop finally got her hands on an Olympic gold medal, combining with Thibault Anselmet to win the mixed relay for France as part of ski mountaineering’s Olympic debut.

Harrop and Anselmet finished the Stelvio course in a time of 26 minutes, 57.44 seconds, holding off the Swiss team of Marianne Fatton and Jon Kistler by 11.86 seconds. Spanish racers Ana Alonso Rodriguez and Oriol Cardona Coll captured the bronze.

Harrop had been favored to win the individual sprint race on Thursday and the first-ever skimo Olympic medal but finished behind Fatton. Anselmet was third in his race, with Cardona Coll claiming gold.

Freeskiers Simone Deromedis and Federico Tomasoni added to the Olympic host country’s medal haul with a 1-2 finish in the men’s skicross final.

Deromedis dominated the four-skier final to win gold while Tomasoni needed a photo-finish to claim silver after stretching to barely beat Alex Fiva. They both celebrated with Italian flags draped over their shoulders as snow fell.

Deromedis gave Italy its 10th gold medal of the Milan Cortina Olympics. Italy’s overall haul is 30 at the end of the penultimate day.

Italy's previous best Winter Olympics was the Lillehammer Games in 1994, when it picked up 20 medals.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

France's Emily Harrop competes during a ski mountaineering mixed relay, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Gold medalists United States' Christopher Lillis, Connor Curran and Kaila Kuhn celebrate after the freestyle skiing mixed team aerials final at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Gold medallist Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands celebrates winning the men's mass start final speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Jordan Stolz of the U.S. warms up ahead of the mass start speedskating races at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, of Norway, crosses the finish line to win the gold medal during the cross country skiing men's 50km mass start Classic at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)