Kristen Faulkner stuns with gold in Olympic women’s road race, ending 40-year American drought

American cyclist Kristen Faulkner pulled off a stunning victory in the 2024 Olympic women’s road race, breaking away with three kilometers to go to take gold Sunday in Paris. The last time an American woman won the event was at the 1984 Los Angeles Games when Connie Carpenter-Phinney placed first.

Though she is the reigning U.S. road race champion, Faulkner was a replacement athlete in this Olympic event. Taylor Knibb resigned her position in the road race to focus on the time trial and triathlon events, and Faulkner took her place.

The 31-year-old made a dramatic bid for home at the very end of the 158-kilometer contest and her rivals around her had no answer as she bolted clear to claim gold.

“I knew I had to attack them as soon as we caught them,” she said. “I knew they were sprinters. But I knew they didn’t want to work together — they were three different countries. I knew if I got a small gap they would have to race for second.

“I just counted to 10 about 10 times until I hit the finish line.”

Faulkner, a Harvard graduate and former rower, got into cycling by riding her bike around Central Park in New York City. She attended an introductory clinic for women’s cycling in 2017 and by 2020 she was racing for Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank, then the longest-running professional women’s cycling team in North America. A year later, she quit venture capital to fully commit to cycling. Faulkner now rides for the American Continental Women Team EF Education-Cannondale.

“This is a dream come true,” she said. “I’m still looking at that finish line sign wondering how my name got there.”

Faulker is one of two Olympians competing in Paris who hail from Alaska. She is a native of Homer, a small city on the Kenai Peninsula, while rugby sevens bronze medalist Alev Kelter calls Anchorage suburb Eagle River home. Twenty-six athletes at the Paris Games are a product of Harvard, either as current students or alumni.

KRISTEN FAULKNER WINS GOLD FOR TEAM USA IN THE WOMEN’S ROAD RACE! 🇺🇸🥇

📺 CNBC and Peacock | #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/72APhuUW0n

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 4, 2024

The battle for silver and bronze went down to the line in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower with Marianne Vos of the Netherlands beating Lotte Kopecky of Belgium by a fraction of a wheel.

Hungary’s Blanka Vas, in a photo finish, had to settle for fourth.

Required reading

(Photo: DAVID GRAY / AFP via Getty Images)