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USA Cyclist Kristen Faulkner Dusted Men’s Times En Route To Olympic Gold Medal

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Team USA’s Kristen Faulkner pulled off one of the upsets of the entire 2024 Summer Olympics on Sunday when she became just the second American ever to win the women’s cycling road race.

Faulkner, 31, only began riding her bike in 2017 and racing in 2020. But she was able to outrace reigning world champion Lotte Kopecky of Belgium and former Olympic gold medalist Marianne Vos of the Netherlands en route to an historic victory.

As it turns out, Faulkner’s performance was so incredible that she outpaced the majority of the men’s road race riders in one of the key sectors of the course.

Faulkner posted her Strava data after the race which showed her speed, calories burned, and several other key insights into the race.

Faulkner’s data showed that only men’s gold medalist Remco Evenepoel of Belgium and fourth-place finisher Atilla Valter of Hungary outpaced Faulkner on the 1.85-kilometer flat segment just prior to the finish line.

Evenepoel, who also one of the men’s time trial, covered the distance in a record 2:11. While Faulkner was just two seconds behind at 2:13.

Kristen Faulkner Was Unafraid To Take Risks To Win Olympic Gold

“If there’s a high risk, and the reward is high, then it’s worth it,” Faulkner said of her race-winning move in the segment.

“This was a great example today. There was a lot of reward ratio I had to assess during the race. I had to be patient, I had to know when to be aggressive, be able to be patient in the right moments and pull back, and then know when to go all in,” Faulkner said. “I think that’s something I learned from my finance days.”

The Alaska native was a collegiate rower at Harvard before moving to New York City and ultimately Silicon Valley, where she began cycling.

She now rides professionally for American team EF-Oatly-Cannondale, with which she’s in the midst of her best career season.

“It’s been quite a whirlwind,” Faulkner said of her huge life changes. “It’s happened quite quickly. I think for my parents even, watching me on this journey. First I left my job, then I moved to Europe. Now I’m Olympic champion.”