"What in the world just happened?!" - Kristen Faulkner in disbelief after stunning Vos and Kopecky to take Olympic gold

Kristen Faulkner is the Olympic champion! After a thrilling finale to the women's road race at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Faulkner outsmarted the superstar trio of Marianne Vos, Lotte Kopecky and Blanka Kata Vas to secure a famous solo victory.

After Vos and Vas went clear together with around 20km to go, the gold and silver medal looked to have been decided. Faulkner though, had not given up and on the final ascent of the Montmartre, the American put in a monster turn on the front of the chase group, dropping all but world champion Kopecky from her back wheel and eventually reeling back the two leaders. By far the least renowned in a sprint capacity of the four leaders however, Faulkner wasn't done attacking just yet and went flying over the top with around 3km to go. As she rode off into the distance, the trio behind just looked at each other, handing the American the gold medal.

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"I feel like this is a dream come true," the 31-year-old former rower reflects afterwards in conversation with Eurosport. "I took a really big risk a few years ago to pursue my dream and, I made it happen! It's the best feeling in the world and I don't really know how to describe it."

"I had high hopes," she insists, full of understandable self belief, when questioned if she believed this was possible at the start of the day. "I'm racing team pursuit in a few days so I said I'd only do the road race if I felt strong and had a chance at a medal, that's the only reason I'm here. I knew it was going to be a really tough race but I was racing to win, not just to participate. I came in with the ambition that if I wasn't coming to medal, I was going to race. That was the promise I made to my team pursuit teammates."

"I knew Kopecky wanted to catch the front two so she would work with me. There was a few times where it seemed like she didn't want to work, but yeah, I had to make her because I knew she wanted to win and that the only chance for her was if we caught them," Faulkner recaps of the dramatic finale. "But I also knew that if we caught them, I had to attack because I couldn't beat them at the line. That was my chance and I practiced my late attack several times this year, so I felt pretty comfortable with it and I just hoped it would work."

As she crossed the line however, there was a notable lack of celebration. "I was pretty sure I won but to be honest, I was a bit like: 'What in the world just happened?!'" Faulkner laughs. "I couldn't process it. It was too big to really realise what had happened at that moment so it took me a few minutes and I had to double check and triple check did I just win gold? I knew it but, I didn't know it!"

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HISTORIC 🥇 Kristen Faulkner brings home Team USA's first gold in women's road cycling since 1984 at the #ParisOlympics!

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