Kristen Faulkner almost never started the Paris Olympics road race before claiming the gold medal

The USA’s Kristen Faulkner was not on anyone’s radar for the Olympic Games one month before she claimed the country’s first gold medal in the road race in 40 years – she wasn’t even on the start list for the road race and her focus was only on the Team Pursuit event, which starts on Tuesday.

However, the 25-year-old from Alaska made it into the road event in a roundabout way, then beat two of the best female cyclists of all time – Marianne Vos (Netherlands) and Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) – with a searing attack at almost exactly a 4km Team Pursuit distance from the line.