It was a history-making day for the U.S. women’s cycling team in Paris, as they captured their first-ever gold medal in the team pursuit competition.
The team, comprised of Indiana-native Chloe Dygert along with Jennifer Valente, Lily Williams and Kristen Faulkner, posted a time of 4:04.306 in the final race, beating out New Zealand to capture the gold medal in the event.
It wasn’t the cleanest finish ever for the U.S., as they held a commanding lead halfway through but saw it start to slip as their tightly formed three-cyclist pack began to drift apart in the closing laps.
New Zealand managed to keep things close, but the United States crossed the finish line just over six-tenths of a second ahead of the team en route to the victory.
The team pursuit came to the Olympics in 2012, and the United States has medaled in each competition. The gold medal had proven elusive however, as they won the silver in 2012 and 2016, along with a bronze in Tokyo in the last Olympics.
Now the United States can bring home a gold medal in track cycling, with competitions continuing for the next several days at the velodrome in France.
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