San Francisco resident Kristen Faulkner won gold in the women’s cycling road race after finishing 58 seconds ahead at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.
The 31-year-old is the first American to win an Olympic road race medal since 1984 when the games were played in Los Angeles.
Watch highlights of her victory in the video player above!
Faulkner, a former rower at Harvard who only made the Olympic team as a replacement, became the first American rider in 40 years to win a medal in the event.
“It’s a dream come true,” Faulkner said. “It’s the best feeling in the world. I don’t know how to describe it.”
She timed her attack to perfection against vastly more experienced riders. Among them was Dutch rider Marianne Vos, merely one of the greatest female cyclists of all time.
The 158-kilometer (98-mile) route started and finished in Paris, with Faulkner crossing the line at the Trocadéro in a fraction under four hours.
Faulkner finished 58 seconds clear of Vos, Lotte Kopecky of Belgium and Blanka Vas of Hungary, who were separated by a photo finish with Vos taking silver and Kopecky clinching the bronze.
Faulkner and Kopecky caught up Vos and Vas with about three kilometers left. As Faulkner attacked, the other three hesitated and then could not catch her.
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She only had the Eiffel Tower and glory ahead of her.
Faulkner won the U.S. road race title in May, but had not qualified for the Olympic road race because Chloe Dygert and American time trial champion Taylor Knibb earned the two automatic selections. It wasn’t until Knibb withdrew last month to focus on the Olympic triathlon that Faulkner was added as a replacement.
Now she’s aiming for a second medal — in team pursuit, which begins Tuesday with qualifying.
“I said I’d only do the road race if I felt strong and felt I had a chance of a medal,” Faulkner said. “I knew that it would be a really tough race but if I was racing, I was racing to win. That was a promise I made to my team pursuit teammates.”
Faulkner ended America’s long wait for a road race medal dating back to the Los Angeles Games.
She can now defend her medal there in 2028.
Every moment. Every medal. Watch the 2024 Paris Olympics on Peacock and NBC now through August 11. See our full TV/digital event schedule here.
