Kaysha Love Went From Herriman Sprinter to Monobob World Champion in Five Years

Kaysha Love of Herriman won the women's monobob world championship at Lake Placid on March 9, 2025. Her four-run time of 3:57.82 beat Germany's Laura Nolte by 0.44 seconds and U.S. teammate Elana Meyers Taylor by 0.49, and the Associated Press reported that she was the seventh U.S. pilot to win a world title.

Less than five years earlier she had never been in a bobsled.

A sprinter from Herriman

Love grew up in Herriman, a suburb of Salt Lake City, and ran for Herriman High School, where Team USA says she won 16 state sprint and high jump titles. Her high school coach, James Barnes, told KUTV she went undefeated for four years in the 100 and 200 meters.

She sprinted at UNLV. Her UNLV bio lists her as a USTFCCCA Second Team All-American in the 4x100-meter relay in 2017 and 2018, a two-time NCAA Outdoor Championships qualifier in that relay, and the winner of the 4x400 at the 2018 Mountain West Indoor Championships in 3:38.65. Her 43.81 in the outdoor 4x100 still tops UNLV's all-time list, and she ran 11.47 for 100 meters and 23.66 for 200. She earned All-Mountain West honors indoors and outdoors in 2018 and indoors in 2020, and was part of UNLV's Mountain West indoor team titles in 2018 and 2020, by her bio and UNLV's 2020 release.

The push camp

In October 2020, as a UNLV senior, she was invited to a USA Bobsled push camp in Lake Placid, which UNLV said ran from Nov. 1 to 12. "I'm beyond grateful for this opportunity to chase, or in this case, push to my Olympic dreams," she said in UNLV's release at the time.

She took to it fast. "It just took two more runs, and after that, I was like, yep, this sport is epic," she later told Team USA.

Team USA, which dates her first camp to October 2020, says she reached the Olympics 16 months later. At Beijing 2022 she finished seventh in two-woman as a push athlete, and she pushed Kaillie Humphries to bronze in two-woman at the 2023 World Championships in St. Moritz.

Moving to the front of the sled

Then she started driving. The IBSF's medal table shows her first monobob World Cup win at La Plagne, France, in the 2023-24 season, her World Cup debut as a pilot, followed by wins at Lillehammer in 2023-24 and 2024-25. She finished fourth in the 2023-24 monobob World Cup standings, by the IBSF.

The world title came in March 2025. Team USA, writing about the coach behind her success, quoted what has worked for her: "I do my best when I feel the most supported."

At the 2024 World Championships she and brakewoman Azaria Hill were fourth in two-woman in 3:45.23, UNLV reported.

In 2025-26, a week after two silvers to start the season, she won the monobob at Innsbruck on Nov. 29, 2025, setting a start record and a track record, USA Bobsled reported. The IBSF's results show her second in both monobob and two-woman at Cortina that season, and second in two-woman at Innsbruck. USA Bobsled now counts seven World Cup wins and 17 World Cup podiums, and says she holds start and track records at Lake Placid, La Plagne, Lillehammer and Innsbruck.

Milano Cortina

At Milano Cortina 2026 she raced both women's events as a pilot. She was seventh in monobob, after starting with the third-fastest first heat, UNLV reported. In two-woman she and Hill, a fellow UNLV alumna, finished fifth, with heats between fourth and sixth, by UNLV's results.

Her record

• World Championships: monobob gold, 2025; two-woman bronze as push athlete, 2023
• Olympics: seventh in two-woman (2022, push athlete); seventh in monobob and fifth in two-woman (2026, pilot)
• World Cup: seven wins and 17 podiums, per USA Bobsled
• College: two-time All-American in the 4x100 relay at UNLV

Utah and 2034

Love has been part of Utah 2034's early work in schools. On Sept. 1, 2026, she was one of the Olympians at the first Champion Schools "Opening Ceremony" at Backman Elementary in Salt Lake City, as Beehive Athletes reported. "I remember when I was their age, like, I didn't really have a dream of becoming an Olympian, right?" she told KSL that day. USA Bobsled says she married Team USA bobsledder Hunter Powell in summer 2026, and the IBSF now lists her as Kaysha Love-Powell.

The 2026-27 season

She opened the new season by winning the women's pilot push at the USA Push Championships in Lake Placid on Oct. 5, 2026, with a combined 11.314, ahead of Sadie McMullen's 11.486, and her 5.573 was the fastest women's run of the day, USA Bobsled reported. USA Bobsled had not announced its 2026-27 World Cup team when this was published. The IBSF calendar opens the World Cup at Altenberg, Germany, on Nov. 23-29, 2026, and the World Championships are at Lillehammer, Norway, on Feb. 14-28, 2027.

For more Utah winter athletes, see the Utah 2034 Olympics hub.

Key facts:

• Athlete: Kaysha Love, USA Bobsled pilot (monobob and two-woman)
• Hometown: Herriman, Utah (Herriman High School; UNLV)
• World title: monobob, Lake Placid, March 9, 2025, 3:57.82
• Olympics: Beijing 2022 (seventh, two-woman push athlete); Milano Cortina 2026 (seventh monobob, fifth two-woman)
• World Cup: seven wins, 17 podiums, per USA Bobsled
• Started bobsled: invited to a USA Bobsled push camp in Lake Placid in October 2020
• Next: World Cup opener, Altenberg, Germany, Nov. 23-29, 2026