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.
