American Kristen Faulkner became a household name after she shocked in the women's road race. She'd then help the U.S. win its first-ever gold in women's team pursuit on the track with teammates Chloe Dygert, Jennifer Valente and Lily Williams.
Speaking of Valente, she became the last American to win an individual medal at the Paris Games when she won the women's omnium race. Dygert also claimed bronze in the women's time trial.
BMX freestyler Perris Bengas and mountain biker Haley Batten each won silvers outside of the track to round out the medals by the women in Paris. In total, the U.S. won six medals in women's cycling events in Paris, its most ever in a single Olympics.
On the men's side, Harrie Lavreysen completed the sprinting hat trick by winning the individual sprint, team sprint and keirin races inside the velodrome. The Dutchman joins Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny as the only riders to win three sprint medals in a single Games.
A trio of Frenchmen — Sylvain Andre, Romain Mahieu and Joris Daudet — entertained at the BMX racing event and provided the only podium sweep, in any sport, of the entire Paris Olympics.
Medal count
There were 66 cycling medals handed out across the five disciplines at the Paris Olympics. Seventeen different nations took home a medal.
| Country | Gold- Silver- Bronze |
Total |
|---|---|---|
| Great Britain | 2 - 5 - 4 | 11 |
| France | 3 - 3 - 3 | 9 |
| Australia | 3 - 2 - 3 | 8 |
| Netherlands | 3 - 3 - 1 | 7 |
| United States | 3 - 2 - 1 | 6 |
| New Zealand | 2 - 2 - 1 | 5 |
| Belgium | 2 - 0 - 3 | 5 |
| Italy | 1 - 2 - 1 | 4 |
| Portugal | 1 - 1 - 0 | 2 |
| Germany | 0 - 1 - 1 | 2 |
| Argentina | 1 - 0 - 0 | 1 |
| China | 1 - 0 - 0 | 1 |
| Poland | 0 - 1 - 0 | 1 |
| Denmark | 0 - 0 - 1 | 1 |
| South Africa | 0 - 0 - 1 | 1 |
| Sweden | 0 - 0 - 1 | 1 |
| Switzerland | 0 - 0 - 1 | 1 |
Track cycling at the 2024 Paris Games
As mentioned above, on the track it was the Lavreysen show, with the impressive sprint sweep. As always, the track provided drama between Great Britain and the Dutch. Portugal's Luri Leitao and Rui Oliviera had a strong showing at the Games, while Frenchman Benjamin Thomas won the grueling omnium race.
On the women's side, New Zealand's Ellese Andrews was always in the mix, winning two bronze medals in the sprint and keirin along with a gold in the team sprint. The U.S. women had a highly successful Games with Valente defending her omnium title and the pursuit team winning gold.
Women’s omnium medalists:
🥇: Jennifer Valente (USA)
🥈: Daria Pikulik (POL)
🥉: Ally Wollaston (NZL)
RECAP: American Jennifer Valente defends women's omnium gold, earns second gold medal in Paris
Women's sprint medalists:
🥇: Ellesse Andrews (NZL)
🥈: Lea Sophie Friedrich (GER)
🥉: Emma Finucane (GBR)
RECAP: Ellesse Andrews dominates women's sprint to win gold, third medal of the Games
Men’s keirin medalists:
🥇: Harrie Lavreysen (NED)
🥈: Matthew Richardson (AUS)
🥉: Matthew Glaetzer (AUS)
RECAP: Harrie Lavreysen completes the hat trick in men’s track cycling, wins gold in men’s keirin
Men’s Madison medalists:
🥇: Luri Leitao & Rui Oliveir (POR)
🥈: Simone Consoni & Elia Viviani (ITA)
🥉: Niklas Larsen & Michael Morkov (DEN)
RECAP: Portugal's Luri Leitao and Rui Oliviera take gold in exciting men's Madison race
Men's sprint medalists:
🥇: Harrie Lavreysen (NED)
🥈: Matthew Richardson (AUS)
🥉: Jack Carlin (GBR)
RECAP: Harrie Lavreysen defends Olympic sprint title, Jack Carlin claims bronze in dramatic race
Women's Madison medalists:
🥇: Ciara Consonni & Vittoria Guazzini (ITA)
🥈: Elinor Barker & Neah Evans (GBR)
🥉: Maike van der Duin & Lisa van Belle (NED)
RECAP: Italy claims gold, Americans Jennifer Valente and Lily Williams finish fourth in women’s Madison
Men's omnium medalists:
🥇: Benjamin Thomas (FRA)
🥈: Luri Leitao (POR)
🥉: Fabio van den Bossche (BEL)
RECAP: Thomas thrills French crowd
Women's keirin medalists:
🥇: Ellesse Andrews (NZL)
🥈: Hetty van de Wouw (NED)
🥉: Emma Finucane (GBR)
RECAP: Andrews adds to Olympic gold
Women's team pursuit medalists:
🥇: USA – Jennifer Valente, Lily Williams, Chloe Dygert, Kristen Faulkner
🥈: New Zealand – Ally Wollaston, Bryony Botha, Emily Shearman, Nicole Shields
🥉: Great Britain - Elinor Barker, Josie Knight, Anna Morris, Jessica Roberts
RECAP: Faulkner, Dygert lead U.S. women's team pursuit to gold over New Zealand
Men’s team pursuit medalists:
🥇: Australia – Oliver Bleddyn, Sam Welsford, Conor Leahy, Kelland O’Brien
🥈: Great Britain – Ethan Hayer, Daniel Bigham, Charlie Tanfield, Ethan Vernon, Oliver Wood
🥉: Italy – Simone Consonni, Filippo Ganna, Francesco Lamon, Jonathan Milan
RECAP: Australia wins gold in men's team pursuit to cap perfect run at Paris Olympics
Men’s team sprint medalists:
🥇: Netherlands – Roy van den Berg, Harrie Lavreysen, Jeffrey Hoogland
🥈: Great Britain – Edward Lowe, Hamish Turnbull, Jack Carlin
🥉: Australia – Leigh Hoffman, Matthew Richardson, Matthew Glaetzer
RECAP: Netherlands sprint to gold in world record
Women's team sprint medalists:
🥇: Great Britain – Katy Marchant, Sophie Capewell, Emma Finucane
🥈: New Zealand – Rebecca Petch, Shaane Fulton, Ellesse Andrews
🥉: Germany – Pauline Grabosch, Emma Hinze, Lea Sophie Friedrich
RECAP: Great Britain wins gold in women's team sprint
Road cycling at the 2024 Paris Games
Belgium's Remco Evenepoel swept the men's road events — becoming the first man to win the time trial and road race at the same Olympic Games. In the road race, he put on a masterclass in the city circuit portion of the course to win gold with a time of 6:19:34.
The women's road race saw Faulkner pull off a stunning upset that left her opponents baffled. In the time trial, Chloe Dygert picked up the bronze medal despite an early crash.
Men’s time trials medalists:
🥇: Remco Evenepoel (BEL)
🥈: Filippo Ganna (ITA)
🥉: Wout van Aert (BEL)
RECAP: Belgians dominate podium in men's cycling time trial
Women’s time trials medalists:
🥇: Grace Brown (AUS)
🥈: Anna Henderson (GBR)
🥉: Chloe Dygert (USA)
RECAP: Chloe Dygert secures third Olympic medal, Grace Brown wins gold
Women's road race:
🥇: Kristen Faulkner (USA)
🥈: Marianne Vos (NED)
🥉: Lotte Kopecky (BEL)
RECAP: U.S. cyclist Kristen Faulkner wins shocking gold medal in women's road race
Men’s road race medalists:
🥇: Remco Evenepoel (BEL)
🥈: Valentin Madouas (FRA)
🥉: Christopher Laporte (FRA)
RECAP: Remco Evenepoel wins historic gold medal in men's road race
BMX freestyle: Perris Benegas shines in Paris
The women’s event’s biggest shock was when Hannah Roberts crashed on both of her runs in the final. China's Deng Yawen was the only rider to score two runs in the 90s and her second run of 92.60 secured the gold.
American rider Perris Benegas took the clean and smooth approach to snag silver while Natalya Dieghm of Australia captured bronze.
On the men’s side, Jose Augusto Torres of Argentina surprised everyone with a 94.82 run to steal gold. Great Britain’s Keiran Reilly was the most consistent rider all day with run scores of 93.70 and 93.91, but his second run helped him edge out France’s Anthony Jeanjean by 0.15 for silver.
Men's BMX freestyle medalists:
🥇: Jose Augusto Torres (ARG)
🥈: Keiran Reilly (GBR)
🥉: Anthony Jeanjean (FRA)
RECAP: Argentina's Torres surprises with dream run for gold
Women's BMX freestyle medalists:
🥇: Deng Yawen (CHN)
🥈: Perris Benegas (USA)
🥉: Natalya Diehm (AUS)
RECAP: Benegas snags silver, Roberts falls out of medal contention, Deng captures gold
Mountain biking: Batten gives U.S. best-ever result in event
American Haley Batten recovered from an early punctured tire to claim silver in the women’s mountain bike race.
After three laps, Batten had pushed up to fourth, 90 seconds behind the lead, but on the fourth lap her bike tire flattened on the rock portion of the race. After falling to eighth in the standings, Batten was able to recover lost ground and lead the chase group into the finish.
The final lap saw Batten jockeying for silver with Sweden’s Jenny Rissveds before the American was able to power past the Swede for a comfortable second-place finish.
Batten’s silver is the best-ever finish in mountain biking for the United States and first medal in the discipline since 2012. Of the race, Batten said, “I had something special inside of me today. My legs never hurt for some reason.”
France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot dominated the race from the start, separating herself from the pack early, and exorcising Olympic demons in her fourth appearance at the Games. Fellow French athlete Loana Lecomte, one of the medal favorites, suffered a nasty fall on the fourth lap and was unable to finish the race.
In the men’s race, Great Britain’s Tom Pidcock clawed back from a popped tire on Lap 4 to spoil France’s Victor Koretzky’s quest for gold in his home country.
Pidcock made a daring move in the last part of the forest track, taking a narrow line and briefly coming together with Koretzky. The Frenchman was forced to unclip his foot and briefly touch the ground to avoid a fall. The bobble was enough to separate the two.
After the race, Pidcock defended the move, saying, “All I know is that I did whatever I could in that race to win.”
Men’s mountain bike medalists:
🥇: Tom Pidcock (GBR)
🥈: Victor Koretzky (FRA)
🥉: Alan Hatherly (RSA)
Women’s mountain bike medalists:
🥇: Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (FRA)
🥈: Haley Batten (USA)
🥉: Jenny Rissveds (SWE)
BMX racing: French sweep the men's podium
A trio of Frenchmen dominated the final of the men’s BMX race from start to finish. Joris Daudet won gold with a time of 31.42 seconds. Sylvain Andre finished 0.28 behind him for second, and Romain Mahieu was behind them in third. It was the only podium sweep by any nation, in any event, at these Olympic Games.
It was the first podium sweep for France at a summer rendition of the Olympics since the last time the Olympics were held in Paris, 1924. Daudet, who won his first medal in four Olympics, added, “It’s amazing, a dream that came true. We deliver when it counted.”
In the women’s final, Australia’s Saya Sakakibara claimed gold with a time of 34.23 seconds in the final. Sakakibara had an efficient Games, winning every race on the way to gold.
American Alise Willoughby had a good start in the final, but a difficult first turn dropped her from second to fifth. She finished sixth.
Women's BMX racing medalists:
🥇: Saya Sakakibara (AUS)
🥈: Manon Veenstra (NED)
🥉: Zoe Claessens (SUI)
Men's BMX racing medalists:
🥇: Joris Daudet (FRA)
🥈: Sylvain Andre (FRA)
🥉: Romain Mahieu (FRA)