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Lily Williams of Tallahassee will return from the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris with the ultimate reward.
A gold medal.
Williams, a former Chiles High track star and one of four cyclists on the American women’s pursuit team, helped the United States take an early lead over New Zealand to claim the gold medal at the Olympic Velodrome on Wednesday night.
The team included road race champion Kristen Faulkner, time trial bronze medalist Chloe Dygert, Jennifer Valente and Williams.
After a quarter of the 4,000-meter race, the Americans were more than a second ahead. They were able to extend their lead to almost two seconds, but were able to fend off a furious finish from the New Zealanders.
The winners achieved a time of 4:04.306, just a fraction of a second slower than the world record.
In the first round on Wednesday, the United States clocked a time of 4:04.629, narrowly beating Team Great Britain by 0.29 seconds and advancing to the gold medal round.
Team USA finished second behind New Zealand on Tuesday.
Given the impressive qualifying time under their belt, US coach Gary Sutton encouraged his team to “believe in themselves”.
Williams and Co. did it.
Although Williams is a newcomer to cycling, she quickly developed into a top athlete.
She was a member of Team USA that won an Olympic bronze medal in the women’s team pursuit in Tokyo in 2022.
The team pursuit is an endurance competition in which four riders from one team compete against another team for 16 laps. The four riders who complete the 16 laps in the fastest time will win.
The women’s team pursuit has had an impressive history of dominance over the past decade. This is her fourth consecutive Olympic medal in the team pursuit, having won a medal in every women’s team pursuit.
Results:
- United States of America – 4:04.306
- New Zealand – 4:04.927
- Great Britain – 4:06.382
Who is Lily Williams, Olympic gold medalist?
Lily began a professional road running career in 2018 after transitioning away from collegiate running in 2016. She has been on the podium in national criterium races and won the 2018 Winston Salem Cycling Classic. By 2019, she began racing track and had found her new home. Lily quickly excelled on the track and joined the team pursuit squad that won the 2020 World Championships and qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Lily and her teammates earned a bronze medal at the Games. After the Olympics, she began competing in other track races and achieved podium finishes at the Nations Cup in the individual pursuit and madison.
Source: USACycling.org
