How Honda Just Helped America Win Three Medals In Bobsledding

“I was not prepared for the level of terror from this bobsled. I swear to God, I thought I was going to die.”

Those are the words of Colin Jost—best known for his role on Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update—who appeared on an Olympic special report with NBC Sports’ Mike Tirico during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games. “I thought my back was going to snap in half,” Jost said. “I thought my bones were going to fly off my body and be littered all up and down the bobsled track. It was by far the scariest experience I’ve ever had in my life.”

In case you couldn’t tell from reading his words and seeing the video, regular people—even famous ones—aren’t cut out for competitive bobsled racing. Even professional athletes, like recently retired NFL lineman Jason Kelce, aren’t prepared for the visceral experience of Olympic bobsledding.

You may have noticed the Acura logo on the sleds featured in the videos featuring Jost and Kelce. That’s because Honda has been working with Team USA on the aerodynamics of current and future bobsleds used by the Olympic team.

"For a company like Honda to invest and believe in your dreams, that's when incredible things happen, and we start seeing those dreams come to life," said Team USA Olympian Kaysha Love. "Now the conversation is about this edge we have found that is powering that dream of becoming Olympic champions." In addition to being an Olympian, Love is a Team Honda athlete ambassador.

A visit to the wind tunnel facilities at the Honda Automotive Laboratories of Ohio, located about 50 miles from Columbus in the small city of East Liberty, proves that Honda’s team of aero specialists are taking their role in bobsled development very seriously.

When Nicole Whiting, a Senior Aerodynamic Test Engineer for Honda, was briefed on the possibility of supporting Team USA, she wasted no time in accepting the challenge.

“Immediately, I said ‘I’m in,’” Whiting told us in the shadow of Honda’s massive wind tunnel. “It’s something I didn’t think I’d ever have the opportunity to do, nor one I knew much about going in, but it’s been amazing.”

The opportunity to stretch her skills from automobiles to sleds wasn’t without challenges. “One has an engine, one uses momentum to go down a hill, so they’re completely different. But we’re able to use the same aerodynamic principles and techniques that we use on our vehicles to develop what would be a good aerodynamic bobsled shape.”

But like motorcycles and open-wheel race cars, the aerodynamics of a bobsled also include the people who go along for the ride. There are challenges when it comes to tuning the shape of the individuals sitting in the sled. “We normally don’t have people in the wind tunnel saying, ‘No, I can’t bend that way,” said Whiting.

Honda has been working with Team USA for less than a year, but the partnership has already proven beneficial with American sledders taking home three medals in bobsledding at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games—including gold for 41-year-old Elana Meyers Taylor in monobob.

Honda engineers have been in contact with the athletes throughout the games, and the lessons learned during Olympic competition will be combined with continued wind tunnel testing to create an all-new bobsled design for Team USA to use for the upcoming Bobsled World Cup season.

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