(NEXSTAR) – Kallie Humphries starts her morning with a cup of coffee in one hand and her baby in the other. But unlike other moms, she’s preparing for her sixth Winter Olympic Games.
Humphries, a four-time Olympic medalist in bobsled events, hopes to use the 2026 games to go out on top.
“We’re going to see how it goes. If I can double-gold it, I’m done. Hands down. Peace-ing out,” Humphries said during a recent visit to her San Diego home. “Mic drop. I’m out. That’s the ultimate goal, and that would definitely be my farewell.”
Humphries has brought home gold and glory for Canada and the United States, but the grind of elite training is a challenge for a family.
“This season is rough, which is why [partner Travis Armbruster] has had to, we’ve had to, like, fully commit to this journey and dream because this Olympic cycle is pretty rough and this sport is in general.”
Humphries is a big figure in bobsledding, but not just for her wins; she’s also a trailblazer who pushed for medal equity in the sport.
“We only ever had one event, where men had two. Men had two men and four men. Women only had two men. And I lobbied for a lot of years to show women were capable because I was told we’re not strong enough, we’re not skilled enough drivers. That opened the door to, ‘OK, we need equal medal opportunity, at least allow that,’ which is how monobob was born,” Humphries said.
It was only fitting that the first-ever Olympic monobob competition ended with Humphries atop the podium for Team USA. The sport involves just a single driver without a team.
File photo – Kaillie Humphries, of the United States, celebrates winning the gold medal in the women’s monobob at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File) 
In this file photo – Driver Kaillie Humphries, right, reaches back to congratulate Jasmine Jones of the United States on their run in the two-woman bobsled World Cup race Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022, in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Jeff Swinger)
“Pressure was high. And so to end 2022 and have that gold medal was just … it really meant everything,” she said. “It was much more than being the best in the world. It was a culmination of a lot of different battles internally and individually that I had to fight to get through.”
That golden moment in Beijing marked the end of one battle, but another big test was unfolding off the track. A year before the games, she had been diagnosed with Stage 4 endometriosis, the start of a three-year fight to become a mother.
“IVF is such a trip because they set the scenario up: ‘Okay, you’re going to pick the best quality. You’re going to pick the best this, and so this is the one you should be successful,’” Armbruster recalled the doctors telling the couple. “And it wasn’t. And then it wasn’t again. And it wasn’t again. (I remember) thinking, but aren’t we getting … less and less and less likely for this thing to work out. So what do we do? Do we keep going?”
The couple never really knew why the pregnancies didn’t work out, but they did persist. After two and a half years, two egg retrievals and four transfers, their son, Aulden, entered their lives.
“I think, like, you look back and you go, ‘OK, why didn’t they work?’ But you also have to look back. You go, ‘OK, we were meant to have that kid, that embryo was the one you’re supposed to have.’ So when they look at it that way, it makes the hard ones not so crappy,” Humphries said.
Less than six months after giving birth, she was back to competing.
“It worked. And there was definitely times in sport that got me through the IVF stuff, and then there was times going through like the IVF stuff I wouldn’t be able to take a lot of that, and I really do feel stronger and better mentally and physically going forward into sport because of the IVF stuff,” Humphries said. “I feel more complete and more whole. I know I can take on and handle things that I am not prepared for or that I don’t know, and I would have never had that confidence before.”
To earn a spot on the team for the Italy games, she had to begin the qualification process last year. Taking a full year off just wasn’t an option. Now the couple, with their son, train together nearly every day, making another run at gold as a family.
“It’s very much about the journey and us traveling together and us being together and us doing this together as a family with Aulden and me becoming a mom and getting back in shape. All of these steps matter just as much as racing at the Olympics,” Humphries said.
“For me and whatever it is, hopefully a medal and hopefully I’m on top of the podium. But if I’m not, I’m not,” she said. “I’m okay with it because I got the gold medal with him. I got to, like, become a mom. And that was the greatest thing. So this four years is already wrapped up. It’s kind of like a victory tour.”
