ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Just two days after a triumphant gold medal in road cycling, Homer’s Kristen Faulkner is in position to win another.
Faulkner and Team USA qualified second in the Women’s Team Pursuit event Tuesday at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, advancing to the finals set for Wednesday morning.
The team set a national record along the way: Consisting of Faulkner, Jennifer Valente, Chloé Dygert, and Lily Williams, the foursome clocked in a national record of 4 minutes, 5.238 seconds, good for second fastest on the day. It was less than a second behind New Zealand (4:04.679) in the four-kilometer event.
Faulkner was originally selected to represent the U.S. in Team Pursuit only, before being subbed in as a replacement in the road cycling event as well, which is her more experienced discipline. The Homer cyclist came through in grand fashion Sunday, claiming a shocking gold medal for Team USA.
She told Alaska’s News Source last month she began track cycling in 2019 and competed in her first race just earlier this year.
“The trajectory has been really fast and the learning curve has been really steep and so to go from kind of a beginner level almost a year ago to making the Olympic team is really special,” Faulkner said.
Eight countries will compete in head-to-head heats Wednesday morning, each based on qualifying times from Tuesday.
Team USA will compete against Great Britain in a heat at 4:12 a.m. AKDT Wednesday. The top four times from the heats will make the medal round, with the top two competing for gold/silver, while the other two competing for bronze.
The bronze medal event is scheduled for 9:17 a.m. with the gold medal event set for 9:28 a.m. AKDT.
Team USA has never finished off the podium in this event at the Olympics, earning silvers in 2012 and 2016 and bronze in 2020.
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Publish date : 2024-08-06 12:51:00
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