Former Homer resident and first-time Olympian Kristen Faulkner won the gold medal at 2024 Paris Olympics cycling road race Sunday, Aug. 4.
Faulkner, 31, arrived at the finish line of the 96-mile race in 3:49:23, 58 seconds, ahead of the Netherlands’ Marianne Vos and Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky, who came in with the silver and bronze, respectively. Faulkner is the first American woman to win gold at the Olympic road cycling race since Connie Carpenter-Phinney won at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, according to nbcolympics.com.
Taylor Knibb, a professional triathlete out of Washington, D.C., originally beat Faulkner in the time trial at the national championships to take Olympic time trial and road race spots, according to previous Homer News reporting. Knibb resigned her spot in the road race in order to focus on her time trial and triathlon events. USA Cycling selected Faulkner to replace Knibb in the road race. It was announced less than a month ago that Faulkner would have the chance to compete.
Seventy-eight Olympic athletes completed the race. Results are available on olympics.com. Faulkner is scheduled to compete again in the women’s team pursuit Aug. 6 at 7:30 a.m.
