Cyclist Kristen Faulkner is our Alaska Athlete of the Week after becoming an Olympic champion in the women’s 158-kilometer bicycle road race at the XXXIII Summer Olympics.
Faulkner, 31, separated herself from the lead pack with a burst of speed with about three kilometers remaining. Her decisive move paid off with the rest of the lead pack unable to match her pace and she went on win by nearly minute.
Faulkner is the first American to win a medal in the Olympic road race since 1984.
The Homer native who rowed at Harvard and only began cycle racing the last decade becomes Alaska’s seventh Olympic champion, and its third in six years.
Faulkner is the third member of the five-person Team Alaska contingent in Paris to claim a medal.
Alev Kelter of Eagle River started things off with a bronze medal with the U.S. women’s rugby sevens team, and former UAF sharpshooter Sagen Maddalena followed with a silver medal in women’s 3-position small bore.
Also receiving consideration:
- Alev Kelter – The rugby player from Eagle River won a bronze medal in women’s sevens rugby with Team USA. The Chugak High scored a try and conversion in the first half to tie the game at 7-7 the 3rd place game vs. Australia that the Americans would win 14-12 in dramatic fashion on the game’s final play.
- Kolby Jensen – The pitcher etched his name in the record books, pitching the fourth no-hitter in the 72-year history of Alaska’s American Legion baseball state tournament. The Service right-hander 13 strikeouts and needed only 86 pitches for the shutout of South.
- Sagen Maddalena – The former UAF rifle team member. A seven-time All-American for the Nanooks from 2014-18, she earned the silver medal for Team USA in women’s 3-position smallbore.
- Rilen Niclai – The junior won MVP honors after leading Service to their first legion baseball championship since 2001. He went 2-for-3 with an RBI double and pitched the final three innings to earn the save as the Cougars defeated three-time defending state champion Eagle River 8-5.
- Shane Sundberg and Keira DeLand – Injecting a youth movement into the Alaska golf scene, Wasilla’s DeLand and Sterling’s Sundberg won the weekend’s women’s and men’s Alaska State Amateur golf tournament respectively this past weekend.
The Alaska Athlete of the Week is selected by a panel each Monday
Have a candidate in mind? Email us your nomination: info@alaskasportshall.org.
