Gold Medal goes to Harvard-Radcliffe’s Kristen Faulkner ’16 for Olympic Road Cycling

PARIS, FRANCE –– Kristen Faulkner ’16 gained the gold within the Girls’s Biking Street Race on Sunday, Aug. 4. The previous Harvard-Radcliffe rower turned bicycle owner completed out the race with a spectacular comeback victory to earn first place.

That is the primary girls’s biking medal for Group USA in 40 years since Connie Carpenter-Phinney did so within the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Faulkner completed with a time of three:59:23 which was 0:58 forward of second place. She completed first out of 93 different Olympic cyclists, breaking away with three kilometers to go to take Gold on Sunday in Paris.

The Alaska native was a Harvard-Radcliffe varsity rower for 2 years (2015-2016). In 2016, Faulkner was a part of the primary varsity boat for all the season. She sat 5 seat within the 1V on the IRA Nationwide Championship the place she helped the staff earn a bronze. The Black and White additionally got here in second place at Japanese Sprints earlier that 12 months.

She took up biking simply 4 years in the past, first beginning to trip in Central Park, New York. Faulkner bought a job in enterprise capital in California earlier than deciding she needed to be an expert bicycle owner. 

Faulkner initially entered the Olympics in simply the monitor biking occasions, however the USA staff wanted a substitute for Taylor Knibb who resigned her spot within the highway race to give attention to the time trial and triathlon occasions.

The Harvard-Radcliffe alumni is about to compete within the Group Pursuit competitions later this week. US Olympic Observe Biking can be streamed on Peacock. 

Tuesday, August 6, 2024
11:30 AM ET – Girls’s Group Pursuit Qualifying
Wednesday, August 7, 2024
6:45 AM ET – Girls’s Group Pursuit First Spherical
11:30 AM ET – Girls’s Group Pursuit Finals