On the final day of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, reigning Olympic champion Jennifer Valente (USA) maintained her focus throughout the women’s omnium race and once again secured the gold medal.
Valente’s gold medal is her fifth Olympic medal overall, won in three Olympic Games, and her second gold medal at these Games. She previously won silver in the team pursuit at the 2016 Rio Olympics and both silver and gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“There is nothing better than this and I am super, super pleased and excited about it,” Valente said.
“I think every Olympic medal is viewed as a separate thing. You target one race and do what you can to prepare. That’s often either a whole quad, a four-year or even an eight-year process, or a whole career process. So you pick events, focus on those, and really focus on what you want to achieve.”
“Every Olympic medal is its own process and its own journey.”
The strategy on the last day of racing at the Olympic Games was to keep calm in the hot velodrome.
“Keeping cool and not overheating was the most important thing, but as far as racing goes, it’s important to take each race as it is, tackle each one full steam ahead and then refocus for the next race.”
After taking first place in the scratch race and second in the speed race, Valente led the entire elimination race, dropping competitors one by one. Her first place finish in the third event increased her total score by 40 points and extended her lead over Australia’s Georgia Baker to 10 points.
The American knew that anything could happen in the chaotic final race, the points race.
“An omnium isn’t over until it’s completely over, and mass races can be so unpredictable and a lot can happen, there can be accidents, people can do a late lap or, or, and every time there are points, the rankings get reshuffled a little bit,” she said. “So you have to keep evaluating what’s happening.”
After scoring five points in the first sprint of the points race, Valente kept a close eye on Baker, who was closing the gap. With less than 50 laps to go, several riders passed the field, each gaining 20 points. Sensing the urgency, Valente made a decisive move to join them. She successfully lapped the field, adding 20 crucial points to her total. Valente secured the Olympic title with 144 points.
While both Pikulik and Wollaston compete on the road with the Women’s WorldTour teams – Human Powered Health and AG Insurance-Soudal respectively – Valente sees herself primarily as a track cyclist.
“I’m primarily a track cyclist, while a lot of my competitors, I think, are road racers, cyclocross riders, mountain bikers or whatever, covering a lot of different disciplines.
“The track is so unique, it’s so fast, there’s so much happening and the feeling you get when you go into a corner as hard as you can and feel yourself being pushed against the track, you feel the speed and everything, that’s probably what I love most – just driving on the track and racing on the track.”
When asked if she plans to compete in the 2028 Los Angeles Games, Valente replied: “I think I’ll try to rush to get to the closing ceremony now. That’s the only thing I’m thinking about.”
