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Former Long Beach State track and field standout and Big West sprints champion Azaria Hill finished in fifth with pilot Kaysha Love in the two-woman bobsled competition from the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics just before the Games came to a close on Sunday.
Hill and Love slid into sixth place after Thursday’s first run where the duo reached a top speed of 79.8 miles per hour, and edged up to fifth after the second. In Friday’s final two runs from the Cordina Sliding Center, Hill and Love held firm to fifth closing with a combined time of 3:49.71, 1.25 seconds back from the gold medalists and wire-to-wire winners from Germany, Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi.
Germans Lisa Buckwitz and Neele Schuten secured the silver with Team USA pairing Kaillie Armbruster Humphries and Jasmine Jones taking home the bronze. Hill and Love were just half a second back from their medal-winning teammates.
Team USA is the only country to hold the distinction of winning an Olympic medal in two-woman bobsled at every Games since the event was introduced to the Olympic roster in 2002. This marks the United States’ seventh consecutive Olympic medal in the discipline.
Hill and Love’s connection goes back to college as the two were on the same track & field squad at UNLV after Hill transferred to the Rebels for a final season after the COVID-19 pause. 2026 was a first Olympic appearance for Hill and Love’s second, but first as a pilot.
Hill joins a list of four other Big West Olympic bobsledders and the first since 2014. The five represent four schools (Long Beach State, UC Davis, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara) with two fellow Big West sledders coming to the sport after collegiate track and field careers. The daughter of Olympians Denean Howard-Hill (track and field, 1984 - gold, ’88 - silver, ’92 - silver) and Virgil Hill Sr. (boxing, 1984 - silver), Azaria continues a family legacy by representing Team USA in competition.