By Gus Saltonstall
The journey of an athlete to the Olympic Games is almost always incredible, but the road to Paris for one recent gold medalist is particularly eye catching, and it started on the Upper West Side.
Kristen Faulkner did not begin cycling until 2017. This past weekend, just seven years later, she shocked the cycling world and won the gold medal in the Women’s Road Race.
Faulkner, 31, grew up in Homer, Alaska, before attending Harvard University, where she rowed crew.
After graduation, she moved to New York City for a venture capitalist job, and then, and only then, did she pick up cycling.
Faulkner attended an introductory clinic for women’s cycling in 2017 in Central Park, and quickly got hooked on the sport. She would wake up every morning before work and do a daily ride through the park.
“I still needed that outdoor fix that was such a big part of my life growing up in Alaska,” Faulkner told NBC about her unusual path to the Olympics. “It [cycling] was kind of my outlet every day, to get into Central Park and get away from the bustle of the city.”
Faulkner improved quickly.
She started competing in races and in 2021 quit her job to pursue the sport on a full-time basis.
While it was one thing for Faulkner to qualify for the Olympics, she was far from the expected favorites to medal in a race. In fact, she only competed in the race after replacing a different American who gave up her position to focus on different events.
Then, on Sunday, the truly unexpected happened.
With a little less than two miles left in the race, Faulkner broke away from the pack in the Women’s Road Race and coasted to gold. She is the first American woman to win the event since 1984.
KRISTEN FAULKNER WINS GOLD FOR TEAM USA IN THE WOMEN’S ROAD RACE! 🇺🇸🥇
📺 CNBC and Peacock | #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/72APhuUW0n
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 4, 2024
The lesson seems clear.
Start biking in Central Park, and seven years later you might win a gold medal.
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Congratulations to Kristen and all the other athletes who worked so hard for their medals. And to those who also put in endless hours but didn’t come away with a medal, you are still over achievers in just getting to the Olympics.
I remember an Olympics where a father consoled his son after he failed to win a medal. His dad said to him “I don’t know anyone who is the 6th best in the world in anything!”
I’ve been watching pro cycling races (Tour de France, the spring classics, Tours of Italy and Spain, and so on) for 20+ years, and Faulkner’s performance is one of the most exciting and memorable I’ve ever seen, especially considering she’s a relative unknown in the world of women’s cycling, and she wasn’t even planning to do the road race, in favor of preparing for indoor track. The power and tactics were phenomenal; so proud to imagine her humble start in Central Park!
This is an amazing story. All of us in the NYC cycling community are very proud of Kristen!
Amazing and congratulations to Kristen! Nice story.
Yeah, be one if the nasty racing cyclists that make the park dangerous for everyone else. Good idea.
As a frequent runner in Central Park, I don’t mind sharing space with the racing cyclists. Yes, they go fast, but the groups who train early in the morning ride very predictably in one direction and (with rare exceptions) stay out of the running lane.
I’ve had way more close calls with delivery workers who don’t use lights in the dark and people on Citi bikes who don’t know (or don’t care) about designated pedestrian lanes and traffic flow.
Wow, a wonderful achievement. I imagine that rowing crew helped a lot in building her stamina.
Her parents and sister were varsity athletes, and she was a nationally ranked rower in High School even before a strong college rowing career: no accidental athlete, but yes in spades to stamina and still a great story!
I like to shout at the cyclists who break the speed limits and go through red lights in the park while pedestrians are crossing that they are not in the Olympics. I guess one of them actually was 🙂
She just won her second Gold for the U.S. in the indoor team pursuit track event.
It’s a well known fact that the first Madison Square Garden had a world class indoor cycling track
Bravo Kristen! She’ll no longer be a surprise to anyone.
https://youtu.be/SdSBuMVDVEg?si=5aW4YAVR3_TmQyxF