Elana Meyers Taylor and pusher Cherrelle Garrett beat three German crews to win the United States' first ever World Championship women's bobsled title on Saturday.
The Americans led after the first two heats on Friday and held in the final two runs on Saturday to win comfortably ahead of Anja Schneiderheinze and partner Annika Drazek, completing the four runs in an aggregate time of 3 minutes, 46.47 seconds to beat the Germans by .43 seconds.
"I am overwhelmed with emotion right now," said Meyers Taylor, of Douglasville, Ga. "It all came together thanks to great coaches, teammates and staff. Everybody worked so hard to get this, and I'm just so grateful and thankful."
Cathleen Martini and pusher Stephanie Schneider were 1.06 minutes behind in third.
Stefanie Szczurek and Erline Nolkte of Germany were fourth and Jamie Greubel Poser and Lauren Gibbs of the United States came fifth. The third U.S. crew, Jazmine Fenlator and Natalie DeRatt, were sixth.
Meyers Taylor and Garrett broke their own track record in the third heat, giving them a big lead of .45 seconds heading into the fourth and final run.
Schneiderheinze and Drazek broke the track record again in the final run but only cut two-hundredths of a second from the gap to the Americans.
Meyers Taylor thanked her partner Garrett. "Having her in my sled made all the difference in the world and I can't say enough about how much she's done. She's incredible."
Saturday's win was the 10th World Championship medal for the U.S. women since the first race was held in 2000, and it's Meyers Taylor's fourth World Championship podium finish.
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