Olympic Bobsleigh Champion Kaillie Humphries Eyes More Glory After Difficult IVF Journey
Triple Olympic bobsleigh champion Kaillie Humphries will compete at the upcoming Winter Olympics following a testing IVF treatment journey that tested her physical and mental resilience to the limit.
A Triumphant Return to the Podium
Standing on a frosty medals podium in Latvia last December, Kaillie Humphries cradled her infant son Aulden in her arms during her first World Cup victory since becoming a mother. This deeply personal triumph marked the culmination of a gruelling two-and-a-half-year journey involving daily injections, four embryo transfer attempts, and profound uncertainty about her chances of conceiving while maintaining an elite athletic career.
"Being able to stand on the podium with Aulden and know how far we've come, knowing it wasn't easy to get pregnant, knowing we had to sacrifice," Humphries told Reuters. "The biggest relief was: we did it. I got through all of that. Aulden is here. I'm getting back to high-performance sport. I feel myself again."
Preparing for a Sixth Olympic Appearance
If that December victory offered a poignant snapshot of her comeback, the upcoming Milano Cortina Olympics will present the full portrait of her remarkable return. The 40-year-old athlete is poised for her sixth Games, having previously served as an alternate for Canada in 2006 before securing gold medals in 2010 and 2014, and bronze in 2018.
Humphries later switched nationalities, winning the inaugural Olympic gold in women's monobob for the United States at the 2022 Games. This time, she competes as a new mother with a fresh understanding of peak performance in a sport that demands absolute control but often punishes the illusion of it.
"For sure, 100% I'm a lot more easy-going," she reflected. "I have this new lease on sport when it comes to controlling what I can control, letting go of the fear that if it's not perfect, it can't happen."
Overcoming Medical Challenges
Timing a pregnancy within the demanding four-year Olympic cycle presents a formidable challenge for any female athlete. For Humphries, the path was further complicated by a 2021 diagnosis of Stage Four endometriosis, a condition that creates scar tissue, blocks fallopian tubes, and impedes ovulation. This diagnosis meant in-vitro fertilisation was her only viable option for conception.
She underwent two egg retrievals in the spring and summer following the 2022 Games, but the process, including daily hormonal injections, took a significant toll on her body. Faced with the need to maintain both her world ranking and her monthly stipend and insurance from the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, she made the difficult decision to return to bobsleigh in the autumn.
"In sport, you only get one year out and then you lose it, so I couldn't afford to sit out a year and keep doing this process without doing it simultaneously with sport," she explained.
Perseverance Through Setbacks
Humphries went on to secure a silver and a bronze at the 2023 World Championships despite her ongoing fertility treatment. Following this competitive success, she endured three successive embryo transfers, all of which unfortunately failed. Undeterred, she and her husband, Travis Armbruster, a former American bobsleigh athlete, resolved to try one last time.
The fourth attempt proved successful, and Aulden was born in June 2024. Life on the road with an infant has become an intricate exercise in flexibility and delegation for the champion athlete.
"Sometimes, bath time is mine because Aulden just wants mum, and Travis is going to go and polish some bobsleigh runners for me," Humphries shared. "It's give and take, we've adapted."
Sharing Her Story to Help Others
Humphries had not initially planned to publicly narrate every intensely personal step of her pregnancy efforts. However, when she began sharing her struggle on social media, the responses from other women poured in, offering a powerful sense of solidarity.
"That's part of what fuelled me, once I put the first post out, the reactions that I got," she said. "Not everything is just gifted or granted or guaranteed. For a long time I did think getting pregnant was going to be easy... and I'm learning it's not the case for one in eight families in America."
"So if it helps bring awareness, and whether it's for family planning or reproductive services or just living a life a little more free of pain with periods, I want people to know what it is and that it's not just your typical suck it up and be tough scenario."
Reshaping the Narrative of Motherhood in Sport
Beyond her personal journey, Humphries is driven by a desire to help reshape the broader narrative of motherhood in sport. Cradling Aulden on the podium in December was a powerful statement towards this goal.
"As much as I hate the fact that seeing is believing, it had to be for me," she admitted. "There were women ahead of me — Allyson Felix, Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka — and I could look at them and know that it was possible."
"Other women go 'Wait, this is what I want,' that they then have that courage and the ability to go out and do it themselves. And that's more than just me winning a race."
As she prepares for what could be her final Olympic appearance, Humphries carries not only the hopes of a nation but also the aspirations of countless women navigating similar challenges, proving that elite athletic performance and motherhood can coexist with determination and support.
