Kristen Faulkner (born December 18, 1992) is an American racing cyclist, who rides for UCI Women's Continental Team . She is the reigning USA National Road Race Champion and won two gold medals in the women's individual road race and women's track cycling team pursuit at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Faulkner is the first American woman, and third female Olympian, in history to win two gold medals in two different disciplines in the same Olympic Games.
Faulkner was born in Homer, Alaska to parents Sara and Jon Faulkner, owners and operators of a resort in the city. She grew up in the Alaskan fishing community along with four siblings, Katie, Andrew, William, and Nicholas.
Kristen Faulkner graduated from Harvard in 2016 with a B.A in computer science, where she competed in varsity rowing. She holds the university's record for fastest 2k indoor rowing time for lightweight women. Before that, she attended Phillips Academy in Massachusetts, where she was an honor roll student and varsity runner, swimmer, and rower.
Faulkner began competitive cycling in New York City in 2017 while she was working as an investment associate at Bessemer Venture Partners. She moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2018 and joined Team TibcoâÂÂSilicon Valley Bank in 2020. During her first year cycling professionally, she worked full-time as an investment associate at Threshold Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. She won the women's road time trial at the 2023 Pan American Games. In October 2023, it was announced that Faulkner would join the UCI Women's Continental Team for the 2024 season.
Faulkner had a strong start to the 2024 season with her new team. She won the Omloop van het Hageland and Stage 4 of La Vuelta Feminina. In May, she won the road race and finished second in the time trial at the United States National Road Race Championships. She was then selected to join Chloé Dygert in the road race and team pursuit at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Faulkner, despite being a replacement on the 2024 Olympic team, was the first American to win a road racing gold medal in 40 years when she took first place in the women's road race. Faulkner finished the 158-kilometer race 58 seconds ahead of the silver and bronze medalists, who ended the race in a photo finish.
Faulkner also won the gold medal in women's team pursuit in track cycling alongside Chloé Dygert, Jennifer Valente, and Lily Williams. This was the first ever team track cycling gold medal in U.S. history. Faulkner became the first American woman and third female Olympian, after Leontien van Moorsel and Ester Ledecká, to win an Olympic gold medal in two different disciplines in the same Olympic Games.