BEIJING (AP) — Kaillie Humphries skipped the last day of women’s monobob training at the Beijing Olympics, letting the rest of the field know that her work was done.

Oh, she was ready.

Competing for the first time in the Olympics as an American citizen, Humphries has grabbed control of the inaugural monobob competition. The reigning world monobob champion finished two runs Sunday in 2 minutes, 9.10 seconds, giving her a massive lead of 1.04 seconds over second-place Christine de Bruin of Canada. De Bruin’s time was 2:10.14.

Laura Nolte of Germany was third in 2:10.32, and three-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor of the U.S. was right in the medal hunt — her time of 2:10.42 putting her fourth.

Barring a big mistake by somebody, it looks like four women remain in the mix for the three medals. They’ll be decided on Monday morning in Beijing, late Sunday night in the United States, right after the Super Bowl broadcast. The gap between Meyers Taylor and fifth-place Huai Mingming of China is nearly a half-second.

Humphries didn’t have the best starts — she was 0.21 seconds behind Meyers Taylor at the top of the track in the first heat, 0.20 seconds behind her teammate to start the second heat.

Thing is, she doesn’t need the best starts. Humphries’ strength is driving, and nobody drove the Yanqing Sliding Center track on a snowy Sunday morning better than she did. She was fastest in the first heat, fastest in the second heat, and is suddenly on the cusp of gold medal No. 3.

Humphries competed in three Olympics for Canada, not counting one other time that she was an alternate for her native country. She and Meyers Taylor are the only three-time medalists in women’s bobsled history; for Humphries, the haul has been two golds and one bronze.

And now she has a chance at two medals in Beijing, with women having two bobsled events on the Olympic program for the first time. She and Meyers Taylor were the athletes who led the fight for a second medal event, something that men’s bobsledders have had for decades.

Simply getting to Beijing was a challenge for Humphries on many levels. She left the Canadian program three years ago and began driving for the U.S.; in World Cup races and world championship events, she didn’t need citizenship to do so. But for the Olympics, she needed a U.S. passport — a process that she was told could take four years, and if true, would have rendered her ineligible for Beijing.

But the passport was acquired with just a few weeks to spare. And then she tested positive for COVID-19 last month, further threatening her Olympic hopes.

Now, passport in hand, virus issues behind her, all Humphries has to worry about is the sliding.

Day 1 could not have gone any better.