Kristen Faulkner made history by winning a gold medal at the 2024 Olympic Games!

The 31-year-old racing cyclist won her first gold medal in the women’s road race on Sunday, August 4, becoming the first American in 40 years to win a medal in that event.

Faulkner won the silver medal by beating Dutch rider Marianne Vos by 58 seconds, while Belgian Lotte Kopecky won the bronze medal behind Hungarian short-haired horse Blanka Vas, who came in fourth, according to the Associated Press.

The race took place on a 158-kilometer course in Paris, on hilly tracks, and the finish line ended at the Trocadéro.

At one point during the race, Faulkner appeared to be ahead alongside Vos and Italian rider Elisa Longo Borghini on the climb up Butte-Montmartre, according to the AP. Faulkner fell behind Vos and Vas for the final stretch of the route and eventually pulled ahead — winning the gold in the final seconds.

Faulkner’s gold medal made him the first American to win an Olympic road race medal since Alexi Grewal and Connie Carpenter won gold at the games in Los Angeles in 1984.

“This is a dream come true,” Faulkner said after his victory, according to the AP. “It’s the best feeling in the world. I don’t know how to describe it.

“I knew Kopecky wanted to catch the two in front, so I knew he would go with me. If we caught them, then I knew I had to attack because I couldn’t pass any of them at the finish line,” he continued. “The best place to attack was right after you caught them and everyone was tired. That was my chance, I’ve practiced my late attack a few times this year.”

Faulkner, an Alaska native, became passionate about cycling while working in investment banking in New York City shortly after graduating from Harvard in 2016. Faulkner eventually turned pro in the sport and also held down a full-time job at a Silicon Valley firm during his freshman year, according to the AP.

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“A few years ago I took a really big risk to follow my dream. I did it,” said the cycling champion. “I learned how to calculate the risks and how to evaluate the risks. In a race, I take that mentality with me: What is the risk-reward ratio? Knowing when to go all-in.”

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