Alaska’s Kristen Faulkner wins 2nd cycling gold medal, this time on USA’s pursuit team

Homer’s Kristen Faulkner, who shocked the cycling world Sunday with her win in the Olympic road race, scored another gold Wednesday.

This time Faulkner won gold as part of USA’s women’s pursuit team, which topped New Zealand in the final head-to-head race to reach the top of the podium at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Faulkner was joined by teammates Chloe Dygert, Jennifer Valente and Lilly Williams to finally break through for gold after they won silver or bronze all three previous times the event had been on the program for the Summer Games.

“We knew we had a strong team coming in,” Faulkner said. “And I feel like the lucky one, because they have won medals before on the track and I haven’t. I just wanted to live up to their expectations.”

The Americans led by more than a second a quarter of the way through the 4,000-meter race, and they stretched the gap at one point to nearly two seconds. When they began to come apart from their single-file, aerodynamic draft with about two laps to go, they had to fight to the finish to hold off the Kiwis.

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With the victory, 31-year-old Faulkner becomes the first Alaskan to win a pair of Olympic gold medals. Alaskans who have won multiple medals include skier Tommy Moe, who won gold in downhill and silver in the Super-G in Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994. Most recently, in 2021, Seward swimmer Lydia Jacoby won a gold in the 100-meter breaststroke and was on the silver medal-winning 4x100 relay team in Tokyo Olympics.

Faulkner, who had only one competitive international race with the track team before the Olympics, was named to the team in June. Despite having much of her experience racing on the road, Faulkner had been training on the velodrome periodically over the past couple years. She attended a track camp in fall 2022 and a talent ID camp for prospective Olympic riders in fall 2023. In February, she competed with Team USA at a Nation’s Cup race in Adelaide, Australia.

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Once she was named to the track team, she made that her priority after initially failing to qualify for the American road race team. Team USA was expected to be a contender for a medal and the team aspect appealed to her.

“The track is really exciting because I think we have a really strong team and have a really strong shot at bringing home a medal,” she told ADN in June. “For me, being part of a team effort feels — I think it would be a bit more rewarding if we all came together and performed really well than doing something like the road, where it feels a bit more individual.”

Faulkner’s personal story has gained national attention during the Olympics. She grew up in Homer and attended Harvard University, where she was on the rowing team. She didn’t pick up cycling until after college, when she signed up for a women’s introductory cycling clinic in New York’s Central Park.

At the time she was working for a venture capital firm and eventually decided to sideline her career in finance to pursue cycling professionally.

Faulkner was soon racing at the highest level of road cycling in Europe and had her sights set on making the U.S. Olympic team. But she finished second in the 2024 USA Cycling Time Trial National Championships this summer. Faulkner was later named to the team after Taylor Knibb bowed out to focus on the triathlon.

Faulkner took that opportunity and rode with it, winning a thrilling road race on Sunday to capture gold, becoming the first American in 40 years to medal in the event.

Her parents, Sara and Jon Faulkner, were in attendance for the Games. They operate Lands End Resort in Homer, where residents have been excitedly watching her multiple trips to the top of the podium.

On social media, local organizations like Homer bike shop Cycle Logical and the Homer Chamber of Commerce offered congratulations for Faulkner. Residents peppered a popular local Facebook page with posts including videos and stories about Faulkner’s wins along with congratulatory messages.

Faulkner joins two other athletes with Alaska connections to earn medals in Paris. Eagle River’s Alev Kelter earned bronze as part of Team USA’s rugby sevens squad. And former UAF standout Sagen Maddalena won a silver medal as part of the USA riflery team.

Associated Press reporting is included in this article.