Lauryn Williams Becomes 5th Olympian to Medal in Both Summer and Winter Games

The United States' Elana Meyers and Lauryn Williams took second place in the women's two-person bobsled competition at the Sochi Olympics on Wednesday, making Williams the fifth athlete in Olympics history to earn a medal at both the Summer and Winter Games. 

The 30-year-old Williams—a sprinter who first picked up bobsledding this past summer—now has a silver medal from the Winter Games to complement her two medals from the Summer Olympics. Williams took silver in the 100 meters at the 2004 Athens Olympics before earning a gold medal in the 4x100 meter relay at the 2012 London Games.

While she's surely happy to have her name in the Olympic record books, Williams missed out on a bigger achievement Wednesday, as she fell just short in her bid to become the second person with a gold medal from both the Winter and Summer games.

Following their second run on Tuesday, Williams (the brakeman) and teammate Elana Meyers (the pilot) held a lead of 0.23 seconds over Canada's Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse. The Canadians cut the lead to 0.11 seconds with a strong third run (57.57 seconds) on Wednesday, then took advantage of a lackluster fourth and final run (58.13 seconds) by the Americans to move into first place.

Ultimately, Humphries and Moyse finished their four heats in a total of 3 minutes, 50.61 seconds, while Williams and Meyers fell 0.10 seconds short at 3 minutes, 50.71 seconds.

American boxer/bobsledder Eddie Eagan—the first person to medal in both the Summer (1920) and Winter (1932) Olympics—remains the only person to earn a gold medal at both the Summer and Winter Games. Joining Eagan and Williams as dual medalists are Norwegian sailer/skier Jacob Tullin, German cyclist/speedskater Christa Luding and Canadian cyclist/speedskater Clara Hughes.