Reigning Olympic and World Champion Jennifer Valente of the United States secured the gold medal in the final cycling event of the Paris Olympic Games on Sunday. Just four days earlier, Valente had also claimed gold in the women’s team pursuit.
The American showcased her dominance in the first three events of the women’s omnium, winning the scratch race and elimination race, and securing second place in the tempo race. Heading into the decisive points race, she had amassed 118 points, 10 more than Australia’s Georgia Baker and 22 points on Canada’s Maggie Coles-Lyster.
Bold attacks shook up the standings, setting the stage for an intense battle for the podium in the fourth and final event, while Valente held onto her lead. The American star ultimately clinched victory with 144 points. Poland’s Daria Pikulik earned the silver medal with 131 points, and New Zealand’s Ally Wollaston secured the bronze with 125 points.
“I went into the day to ride each of the four events as a standalone basically, and I think I did that pretty well and it worked out. I definitely went into the points race looking at the couple of riders that were trailing me, and the points gap dropped a little bit once you get further down the startlist. I was pretty happy to let other people take points and let the race evolve,” Valente said.
“It’s fantastic [to have won two gold medals]. This has been a very long week, with the team pursuit qualifying a week ago, and I’m really excited to pull it off on the last day.”
Pikulik faced an officiating error during the elimination race when she was mistakenly eliminated by the race commissaires. The mistake was corrected, and the race was yellow-flagged to allow her to rejoin the pack. She was ultimately eliminated in 10th place.
“I can’t describe in words how proud I am of myself today. I didn't start the Omnium in the way that I hoped for, and also in the elimination race, I don't know what happened. It was like ‘mistake Pikulik is out’ and I was like, how is this possible?” the Polish rider said.
“I was not happy about it but, I also feel a little bit angry. And after that, I just told myself you just go full gas from the start, no matter if you will be OK for the finish and that will be enough energy. You just need to go full gas to be proud of yourself that you did it on your own and I did it.”
Wollaston also won the silver in the team pursuit at Paris 2024.
“I actually didn't even know that I was in the bronze medal competition until maybe 10 laps to go. And I heard my name, and I looked up on the board. It was the first time I looked up and thought, 'Oh my god, yeah’,” Wollaston said.
