The first AI-powered pro cyclist? American Olympic Champion Kristen Faulkner turns the page on cycling's tradition
Cycling
Over the past few years, the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence has been at the forefront of many of the world's most important topics. Its use can bring benefit across a whole spectrum of activities and one of them can potentially be training for pro cyclists. Olympic Champion Kristen Faulkner has written about how she is performing at her absolute best level ever since building her own app.
"The research I needed about my own body did not exist. So I built it with AI. For the last two months, I've been coding whenever I’m not training. 10+ hours a day," Faulkner wrote on a LinkedIn post. "My training data open in front of me. I have a lot of questions I want to answer and a lot of data to synthesize".
The 33-year old won the USA national championships back in 2024 and then backed that up with a victory in the Olympic Games Road Race in Paris. She has done this with success but over time has had a few seasons in which she couldn't be consistent. That was the case with 2025 as well, in which she defended her North American title however couldn't perform when in Europe.
In 2026, she has gotten a new spike in motivation. "When I spent my winter in SF (San Francisco, ed.) and watched the AI boom up close, I wanted to build again," she explains. "So little performance research is done on women, particularly regarding the needs of elite female athletes. So I took matters into my own hands, and I started writing the research myself. I did not want to keep waiting for someone else to study the questions that matter to my body".
How is Faulkner using AI to evolve?
Humans are not machines and so there is an infinite amount of variables to one's body and how to make it more efficient to the specifics of the sport. It is a job that is difficult to handle and balance out with personal life, and one which the 28-year old is looking to work through better.
"For nine years, I collected biometric data that I struggled to synthesize. Heart rate. HRV. Sleep. Weight. Power. Temperature. Training load. Menstrual cycle phases. Bloodwork. DEXA scans. Every app gave me one piece of the story, but the answer was never in one app. It was in how it all interacted. So I built a system that pulls in the data sources I actually use as an athlete," she added. "And runs them against 4,400 hours of my own training history. It does not just show me dashboards. It builds personal models of my physiology".
"Every model is trained on my body. Every finding is specific to my history. And every output is actionable, not just interesting. I used this to help me prepare for the Pan Am Championships, where I won 3 gold medals this year. Today, I produced my best 20-minute power ever with training help from this app. AI is going to change women’s performance research from the bottom up, and I want to be a part of it".
Kristen Faulkner won the 2024 Olympic Games road race in Paris
Faulkner combined racing on the road with track, something which is not too uncommon in American cycling, and hopes to bring out the success in both disciplines. With the field's quality growing further and further, she is using her own knowledge and weapons to continue improving on the bike and remain as competitive as possible.
"I studied computer science at Harvard. I worked in venture capital. I actively invest in AI companies. I race on the Women’s WorldTour. I am training to defend Olympic gold on home soil in LA 2028. I’ve applied all of that knowledge to building this".
"I came into cycling late. I did not win because I had the deepest race history or the most experience. I won because I used my brain as much as I could". Now, she is trying to do it in a different form. "Before my first European race, I made flashcards of the riders, I studied every corner of every course, and I analyzed my data rigorously. I am doing the same thing now, with AI".
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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