Kristen Faulkner, who started road racing as a hobby just six years ago, gloriously ended a 40-year drought for the United States at the Paris Olympics by winning gold in the women’s category. The 31-year-old made history on Sunday, being the first rider from the United States to accomplish this since Connie Carpenter’s triumph at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
Growing up in the charming village of Homer, Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula, Faulkner enjoyed hiking and rowing. In 2016, she earned her degree from Harvard University, where she competed on the women’s crew team.
Her enthusiasm for professional cycling didn’t become apparent until she relocated to New York in 2017 to pursue a job in venture capital.
The Olympian stated; “I still needed that outdoors fix that was such a big part of my life”
Faulkner was called up to Team USA in early July after Taylor Knibb decided to forfeit her berth in the road race to focus on the Olympic time trial and triathlon events. Originally, Faulkner was not scheduled to compete in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Giving up a job in finance to pursue sports full-time
Faulkner started her career in women’s cycling with an introductory clinic in Central Park, New York City. She began competing with Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank, North America’s oldest professional women’s cycling team, in 2020.
She made the audacious choice to give up her venture capital career at the beginning of 2021 to focus solely on the sport, with the expectation that this would just be a brief diversion from her career path.
As a rider with the American Continental Women’s Team (EF-Oatly-Cannondale) now, Faulkner has developed a strong love for the sport, relishing the rivalry, team spirit, and constant training.
She told the Associated Press that her success as a professional athlete has been greatly influenced by her work as a venture capitalist. She lives in San Francisco and rides her bike for about 50 miles every day.