Kristin Armstrong Wins US Gold In Women’s Cycling Time Trial

USA’s Kristin Armstrong came out of retirement specifically to defend her 2008 Olympic Cycling time trial gold medal, and on Wednesday she did that, besting the field by sixteen seconds over the 18-mile course.

Armstrong had a long and very successful career before retiring winning the world championships twice and the U.S. championship three times, plus Olympic gold.

Armstrong, who retired after Beijing to start a family, began competing again in 2012 and was enormously successful—until she crashed May 25 at the Exergy Tour in Idaho breaking her collarbone. After getting her collarbone surgically repaired, Armstrong pushed herself to get back onto her Olympic training schedule.

The American rider, who is ten days shy of her 39th birthday, knew that the Olympic time trial might be her last race, and she rode accordingly. One second ahead of the field at the first time check, she was nearly five seconds fast by two-thirds distance. The U.S. rider kept accelerating to finish with a time of 37:34 at an average speed of 28.8 mph.

2001 world time trial champion, Germany’s Judith Arndt took silver; Olga Zabelisnkaya of Russia took bronze, to go with the bronze she won in the road race.