Bobsledder Competes at Milano Cortina Games as Mother, Overcomes Endometriosis Diagnosis
American bobsledder Kaillie Humphries, 40, captured a bronze medal in the monobob event at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, marking her latest achievement in a career defined by resilience and groundbreaking accomplishments. The competition comes just 20 months after she welcomed her son, Aulden, in June 2024.
Humphries’ return to elite competition represents a remarkable personal journey. After being diagnosed with stage IV endometriosis in 2021—a condition that significantly impacts fertility—she began IVF treatments in summer 2022. Three embryo transfers were unsuccessful before she became pregnant in September 2023 following her fourth attempt.
The Five-Month Postpartum Comeback
To qualify for the Milano Cortina Games, Humphries made the difficult decision to return to training just five months after giving birth, competing during the 2024-2025 World Cup season across six countries. She described feeling like “a shell of her former self” during the comeback, lacking core strength critical for a power- and speed-based sport subject to extreme g-forces.
Despite these challenges, she finished fourth in the two-woman event and eighth in monobob at the 2025 World Championships in March, impressive performances given the circumstances.
Historic Olympic Career
Humphries remains the only woman to win Olympic gold medals for two different countries. She claimed back-to-back golds for Canada in the two-woman bobsled in 2010 and 2014 before switching to represent the United States in 2019, citing abuse and harassment within the Canadian bobsled federation. In 2022, she won gold in the inaugural women’s monobob event for Team USA in Beijing.
With five world championship titles and four Olympic medals across her career, Humphries is the most decorated woman in bobsled history. Her husband, former USA bobsledder Travis Armbruster, supported her Olympics bid by leaving his job as a personal trainer to travel the World Cup circuit with their family during the 2024-2025 season.
At 40 years old, Humphries continues to redefine what’s possible in Olympic competition, prioritizing both athletic excellence and motherhood. “There’s nothing that I would change, regardless of what the result is,” she said before the Games. “It really is about the process and the planning of what it took us over these four years to get to this Games with Aulden.”
