Making Team USA for the Paris Olympics has been an uphill battle for Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Cannondale), but the Alaskan is not giving up yet.
On Wednesday, Faulkner came short of earning an automatic bid for the Olympics in the individual time trial when she came second to triathlete Taylor Knibb, who claimed the ticket to Paris, by 11 seconds.
Knibb will join world champion Chloé Dygert in the Olympic Games time trial, and, normally, both would also compete in the road race. However, Knibb has never competed in an international road cycling event and only met the requirement to have at least 10 UCI points through her victory in the time trial.
Given Knibb’s lack of experience racing in a peloton and her focus on two other events, individual and mixed relay triathlon, she may not be the best choice to represent the country in the road race.
There is still a small chance Faulkner or perhaps Lily Williams (Human Powered Health) could be on the start line for the road race in Paris. According to USA Cycling Chief of Sport Performance Jim Miller, Knibb could decline her position in the road race and be replaced by another athlete already selected for the Olympics in cycling, either for the track or mountain bike events.
“I’d like to go for either track or roads. So just one thing at a time right now,” Faulkner said after winning the road race title in Charleston, West Virginia on Sunday.
To make the team, Faulkner has taken to the boards to try to get on the women’s team pursuit squad, and flew to Belgium for a track training camp directly after the road race win on Sunday.
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“I go to a track camp for Team Pursuit in Belgium at the end of the month, and I’ll be there for two to three weeks. And then after that, they’ll select the final team that they’re taking to Paris.”
Faulkner has been preparing for the challenge all year, doing her first team pursuit at the Nations Cup in Adelaide with Olympic Omnium gold medalist Jen Valente, Lily Williams and Olivia Cummins, finishing fifth.
“It went really well,” Faulkner said. “It wasn’t all of the members that might go to Paris, because it was some were missing because of injury and stuff, but there were definitely people there who are likely to be on the final team.
“I liked it a lot more than I thought I would,” she said of racing the track. “This season, my kind of sub-five minute power has really been my strength, and I think that really comes across in the team pursuit effort.
“I also spent a lot of time on my TT bike this year, which really helps with Team Pursuit, and so I feel like it really plays to my strengths, and I’m just getting better and better.”
Knibb’s automatic selection knocks riders like nationals silver medalist Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health), bronze medalist Coryn Labecki (EF Education-Cannondale) or fourth-placed Lauren Stephens (Cynisca), who aren’t trying to make the track team, since a replacement for Knibb has to come from an athlete already on Team USA in another event.
“We only have two spots for the US this year, and I can’t complain about that, because I’ve not been racing the last few years to help secure more spots for the US,” Edwards said.
“The way that USA Cycling selects the athletes is a bit different every single year, and there was a lot weighted on that time trial,” she said, having taken fourth in the TT.
“I’m not exactly sure what’s going to happen next, because there’s a lot of athletes that are doing track. The Olympics are always a goal, but I’m lucky enough that I’ve been before twice. I would have loved to go again this time, but at this point, I’m not sure what it’s looking like.”
