It’s a gold medal for Homer-born Kristen Faulkner, who competed in her first Olympic event on Aug. 4, racing in the women’s road race for Team USA in Paris and finishing in a spectacular fashion by sneaking up and pedaling to give America its first gold medal in this event in 40 years.
The road race was added for Faulkner at the last minute, when another rider for Team USA, Taylor Knibb, dropped in order to focus on other competitions.
Although she has only been racing for a few years, Faulkner was in the top 10 racers in the pack for much of the race. Within the last 20 kilometers, she powered forward and into fourth place. With 3 kilometers to go, she was in third place. Then, with .7 kilometers to go, she had moved into first place and broke away from the two leaders, putting about a half a minute between her and them. She finished in 3:59:23.
Marianne Von of Netherlands and Lotte Kopeky of Belgium came in second and their.
On Aug. 6 and 7, Faulkner will be competing in her favorite event, Team Pursuit, which is a track racing competition in a velodrome.
Faulkner, whose parents are the owners of Alaska Gold Communications Inc., the parent company of Must Read Alaska, was a world-class rower before she was a cyclist. In 2010 she won a silver medal at the Junior World Rowing Championships, and rowed crew while in college. She first started bike racing in 2019; her preferred sport is the Team Pursuit, which is on a track in a velodrome.
Faulkner went into the ITT [time trials] as the reigning Pan-American Champion, and came in second at the nationals. Her placement on the roster of the Team USA women’s road race was a surprise to her.
Alaskantuf!!!
So proud!
Wow, what a great athlete!
The best part of it all she didnt get beat out of contention by a male woman.
Did that happen? Weird fake news, lap it up weird boy
That is simply awesome!
Congratulations Kristen-sounds like you smoked ‘em!
How about them legs ma’am wow, thank you must read finds the good stuff that gives all a smile. absolutey our ladies of our ladies union are saying we got this no no problem GODS special Forces our ladies union. Congratulations ma’am
This puts a big smile on a lotta faces here. Congratulations!!!!!!!
What an incredible achievement for that young lady.
Congratulations Kristen! The Wall Street Journal had a great story on her from May 2, 2024. Worth searching for.
Sebastian
Isn’t it great! We can all glow in the success of someone who achieves something phenomenal. It’s enabling for people’s everywhere. It’s a triumph of the Human Spirit.
God Bless America and God Bless Kristen.
Congratulations Kristen Faulkner. Amazing race.
Awesome to see the enthusiasm of the crowd. Great day in Paris.
Great job! Nice to see an Alaska competitor going for it and winning! Long time Alaska roots right there!
Go girl! She went! Congratulations to this athlete! I would hunch my bets that this young woman cycled up and down the Sterling Highway in Alaska in the summer months! (Though probably a bit different than the temperatures around Paris, this year.) What an achievement!
I know of some folks, members of Chugiak Century Club which was started by track coach Mr Kirk in the 70s, who put their miles in during midsummer from Chugiak to Talkeetna, and back then round-trip to Seward. Carried bear spray.
From Wikipedia, “Faulkner began competitive cycling in New York City in 2017 while she was working as an investment associate at Bessemer Venture Partners. She moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2018 and joined Team Tibco–Silicon Valley Bank in 2020. During her first year cycling professionally, she worked full-time as an investment associate at Threshold Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. She won the Women’s road time trial at the 2023 Pan American Games. In October 2023, it was announced that Faulker would join the UCI Women’s Continental Team EF–Oatly–Cannondale for the 2024 season.”
When she has time in a summer month, she might consider cycling away from the rat-race, in AK.
Excellent work. Good job
If I remember correctly, she also was a track and field athlete as a middle schooler in Homer at the same time as my son. She ran the 800 meters very well. She’s a confident, competitive woman. Go, Kristen!