Cyclist Kristen Faulkner on her lofty sporting dreams: “​​I have some big goals, don’t I?”

You can hardly fault Kristen Faulkner for dreaming big. The 31-year-old venture capitalist turned professional cyclist has achieved a lot in her short career. Yet, a nagging childhood dream still remains unfulfilled: competing at the Olympic Games.

While she has worked hard to earn her place in the professional peloton, it was always about the Olympics for Faulkner.

“It’s never been about reaching a certain level of credibility in the sport, it’s been about that little girl inside of me and what dreams she had when she was a kid,” Faulkner told GCN in March.

She credits a fateful viewing of the Olympic Games Sydney 2000 as a child for planting the idea in her head.

“I was watching the Sydney Olympics on TV and I thought it was an amazing thing to see,” she told GCN in the same interview. “At that moment, it became my life goal to go to the Olympics.”

From the “halibut fishing capital of the world” to the professional peloton

Faulkner grew up in the small coastal community of Homer, Alaska. Her passion for sport was stoked at a young age through summer hiking trips and local swim meets.

She left the “halibut fishing capital of the world” to attend an elite high school in Massachusetts. While completing her studies, she continued swimming and picked up the sport of rowing. She then continued rowing in college as part of Harvard’s varsity crew.

In fact, there was a time when it seemed like her Olympic dream could be achieved through rowing. She finished second at the junior world rowing championships in 2010, but gave up rowing after graduating from college.

She sought employment in the venture capital sector and left sport behind for a time. However, sport beckoned once more.

Faulkner attended an introductory women’s cycling clinic in New York City in 2016 and immediately fell in love with the sport.

Despite a steep learning curve, which included riding a loaned bike on her first day, wearing the wrong clothing and learning to handle her own bike, she gradually worked her way through the domestic racing scene to her first professional race in 2020.

It only took her four stages to claim her first professional victory in road cycling.

Building a professional resume on two wheels

The accolades came quick and routinely for Faulkner. She quit her job in the venture capital sector and focused solely on cycling.

In 2021, she won a stage of the Ladies Tour of Norway and made her debut in the world championships road race.

The following year she won an individual time trial at the Tour de Suisse Women and stamped her authority on the Giro d’Italia Donne.

While she didn’t claim outright victory in the Grand Tour, she did win the opening time trial, notch a breakaway victory on a mountainous stage, and take top honors in the mountain points classification.

It cemented her as a serious contender for stage and race victories in the professional peloton. Unfortunately, she fell victim to injury issues and an avoidable disqualification for banned technology during the 2023 season.

Nonetheless, she salvaged a poor season with a gold medal in the individual time trial at the Pan American Games.

Returning to top form this season, she began the year with a one-day race victory and a sixth-place finish at Strade Bianche. It was her phenomenal, attacking victory during stage four of the Vuelta España Feminina that cemented her as a serious gold medal threat in Paris, however.

Slipping away from the likes of Demi Vollering and Elisa Longo Borghini before a short climb, she powered to victory in a solo breakaway over the last few kilometers of the stage. It was a sensational win and one that brought the Olympics back into focus.

Making Olympic Dreams a Reality and Other Future Cycling Goals

Faulkner has yet to make the U.S. Olympic team. She missed the first selection opportunity at the 2023 world championships, and is now eyeing the 2024 U.S. Championships in Charleston, West Virginia as her chance to qualify for Paris 2024*.

A victory in the individual time trial would likely be enough to see her selected for Paris 2024. Faulkner knows what is at stake, and is focusing her preparations on the race.

“I have worked with my coach on a training plan and have a race plan that allows me to peak in May,” she said during a team interview in February.

Even if she manages to qualify for Paris 2024, Faulkner has a wider range of goals she wants to accomplish before leaving the sport.

“I want to win a medal at the Olympics,” declared Faulkner. “I want to win a world championship in the time trial. And I would like to win a stage at the Tour de France.”

She joked, “I have some big goals, don’t I?”

*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.

Faulkner Dabbles in Track Cycling Ahead of Paris 2024

Faulkner isn’t limiting herself to the road either. She began training in a new discipline of cycling over the winter: track cycling.

Switching from the road to the boards, Faulkner has had to learn a new way of cycling. Nonetheless, she believes the cross-training is positively impacting her road cycling and track cycling.

“Standing starts have helped me build raw power and strength, which has helped me on the road,” said Faulkner.

She raced once with the national team earlier this year, and plans to attend the final selection camp for track cycling later this summer. If everything goes well, she may find herself included in the women’s team pursuit squad.

It’s unclear if she will attempt to compete in both road cycling and track cycling at Paris 2024, but Faulkner may find it hard to turn down the opportunity if it means fulfilling her childhood dream in a unique way.

Road Cycling and Track Cycling at Paris 2024

Road cycling will take place at two separate venues during Paris 2024. The road races will start and finish near the Trocadéro on 3 and 4 August, while the time trials will reach their climax at the Pont Alexandre III bridge on 27 July.

Track cycling will be held at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome from 5-11 August.