From Harvard to venture capital to double Olympic Gold, Kristen Faulkner’s path has been anything but conventional. But one thing is a constant – her rigorous pursuit of excellence.

Before she became a cyclist, the double Olympic gold medalist and back-to-back US road race champion worked in finance in Manhattan. Kristen earned her bachelor’s degree in computer science at Harvard, where she competed on the university rowing team. She finished second in the world junior rowing championships, before moving to New York City to pursue her career with a venture capital firm.

She missed team sports, so she went to a women’s introductory cycling clinic in Central Park. She enjoyed that enough to do a race and once she experienced how much strategy and tactical thinking cycling required, she knew it was the sport for her.

The 32-year-old has always dreamed big. Ever since she was a little girl, Kristen wanted to compete in the Olympic Games.

Her childhood in Homer, Alaska helped her develop a sense of resiliency. Kristen’s parents run a restaurant and hotel in her hometown and she has been always inspired by their work ethic. That work ethic, combined with her Olympic dream, inspired her to take up a new discipline for her, the team pursuit in track cycling in 2024, alongside road racing.

She sees bike racing as a game of chess, where strategy, patience, and anticipating a competitor’s move make the sport demanding and thrilling. On the streets of Paris, she rode a smart, tactical race, biding her time on the circuit up and around Montmartre, before making a big effort to close to the leaders with just over three kilometers to go. Knowing that her rivals at the front of the race might hesitate in the hope that the other would chase, Kristen attacked and rode solo to the finish under the Eiffel Tower to win her first Olympic gold medal.

With hard work and intelligence, she had made her childhood dream come true. She celebrated with her family and then turned her attention back to the track and her pursuit of excellence. A few days later, Kristen won her second Olympic gold medal with her teammates in the team pursuit.

Her 2024 season also included wins at Omloop van het Hageland, two stages at Trofeo Ponente in Rosa where she also claimed the points and mountains jerseys, a stage at the Vuelta España Femenina, and the US road race national championship. This year, she successfully defended her US road race title and now has her set her focus on the Tour de France Femmes.

At her European base in Girona, Spain, Kristen likes to grocery shop at the local farmers markets, letting fresh produce inspire her in the kitchen. She loves creating healthy, vegetable-based dishes. A lifelong learner, she always has a couple of books on the go.