PARIS – Kristen Faulkner became the first American woman to medal in road racing in 40 years on Sunday, and her Paris Olympics aren’t over yet.
Faulkner, who gave up a lucrative career in venture capital to begin cycling full-time in 2020, has one more competition left on her Olympic docket: Team pursuit, which begins Tuesday at the National Velodrome.
Faulkner pulled away from the field to win by 59 seconds Sunday in a 158-kilometer race that took her through the streets of Paris, into Versailles, across the elevated French countryside and back to Paris again.
In team pursuit, she will race on a track with three of her American teammates against racers from other countries. Chloe Dygert, Olivia Cummins, Jennifer Valente and Lily Williams also are on the Team USA that is a medal favorite after winning a bronze in the event at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
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Dygert also competed in Sunday’s road race, and said Faulkner’s growth as a track racer has helped her excel in both disciplines.
‘She’s put a lot of work in and she’s doing a lot of track and I think that has really helped her,’ Dygert said.
Qualifying in team pursuit is Tuesday, and the competition concludes Wednesday with first-round matches followed by the finals round.
Faulkner was a late add to the road race field after Taylor Knibb gave up her spot in the race to focus on her other events − triathlon, triathlon relay and cycling time trial. Faulkner said she simulated competing in the road race and team pursuit 48 hours apart during her training to prepare for her Olympic schedule and only decided to stay in the road race after discussions with her coaches about her medal chances and ability to perform at a high level in team pursuit on short rest.
On Sunday, she said felt ‘quite strong throughout the day’ and after making a climb early in the race decided, ‘I’m going to go for it and just continue in the race and try to earn a medal.
‘So that’s what we did,’ she added. ‘And I still feel, hopefully as soon as I get home I can start my recovery process and earn another medal with team pursuit cause we have a really strong team and yeah, I want to walk away with two medals.’
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
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