Kristen Faulkner ends 40-year American Olympic drought with women's road race gold

American cyclist Kristen Faulkner secured the gold medal in the 2024 Summer Olympics women’s road race Sunday in Paris, ending Team USA’s 40-year medal drought in the competition.

Connie Carpenter-Phinney took home gold for the United States in the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles but since then, it had been disappointment after disappointment for the U.S. in the women’s road race. That’s no more, as Faulkner broke away with three kilometers to go to take gold.

Kristen Faulkner. ICONIC. 🇺🇸🥇

First women’s cycling road race medal for Team USA in 40 years! #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/F1T2rfxkyj

— NBC Sports Cycling (@NBCSCycling) August 4, 2024

“This is a dream come true,” Faulkner said, via Tess DeMeyer of The Athletic. “I’m still looking at that finish line sign wondering how my name got there.”

Kristen Faulkner makes history at 2024 Summer Olympics

Faulkner, the Homer, Alaska, native and Harvard graduate, came into the Olympics as the reigning U.S. road race champion. She, however, wasn’t originally scheduled to compete at the Olympics. Faulkner, who only began cycling in 2017, replaced Taylor Knibb, who resigned her position less than a month out from the competition to focus on the time trial and triathlon events.

She maintained pace with the leaders late in the race before accelerating past Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky and the Netherlands’ Marianne Vos as they crossed the Seine River. Faulkner, 31, crossed the start-finish line with the Eiffel Tower behind her, no other cyclist in sight.

Kopecky took the bronze, while Vos edged her out for silver.

“I knew I had to attack them as soon as we caught them,” Faulkner said. “I knew they were sprinters. But I knew they didn’t want to work together — they were three different countries. I knew if I got a small gap they would have to race for second.

“I just counted to 10 about 10 times until I hit the finish line.”