Reigning Olympic road race champion Kristen Faulkner is training with AI, records highest ever power

Saturday, 25 April 2026 at 10:28

Follow IDL Pro Cycling on Google

Stay up to date with the best cycling news by making us a preferred source on Google.

Anyone looking for the reigning Olympic road race champion in the women's peloton in 2026 has had to look hard. Kristen Faulkner, who won gold in Paris in 2024, has made just one European appearance this season — but says she is breaking her power records. She has shared an update on LinkedIn.

Faulkner's only race so far has been the Tour of Flanders, which ended with a DNF. Last year she was forced to end her season early after failing to finish stage five of the Tour de France Femmes. We have seen relatively little of her since her triumphant day in Paris. Which makes her latest update all the more interesting.

"For the last two months, I've been coding whenever I’m not training. 10+ hours a day. My training data open in front of me. I have a lot of questions I want to answer and a lot of data to synthesize," the Alaska-born rider begins.

"Sometimes I'd get back from my ride and jump onto my laptop in kit before putting my bike away. I'd start a coding session and let it run while I showered. I studied computer science in college, and I have always loved building. It gives me so much energy. When I spent my winter in SF and watched the AI boom up close, I wanted to build again."

"So little performance research is done on women, particularly regarding the needs of elite female athletes," Faulkner explains. "So I took matters into my own hands, and I started writing the research myself. I did not want to keep waiting for someone else to study the questions that matter to my body."

Continue reading below the photo!

Faulkner collected 9 years of data

All of her own data feeds her personal research. "For nine years, I collected biometric data that I struggled to synthesize. Heart rate. HRV. Sleep. Weight. Power. Temperature. Training load. Menstrual cycle phases. Bloodwork. DEXA scans."

"Every app gave me one piece of the story, but the answer was never in one app. It was in how it all interacted. So I built a system that pulls in the data sources I actually use as an athlete and runs them against 4,400 hours of my own training history. It does not just show me dashboards. It builds personal models of my physiology."

That does not translate directly to other athletes.

Every model is trained on my body. "Every finding is specific to my history. And every output is actionable, not just interesting. I used this to help me prepare for the Pan Am Championships, where I won 3 gold medals this year. Today [Wednesday], I produced my best 20-minute power ever with training help from this app.'

Continue reading below the photo!

Faulkner believes AI can change women's sport

The 33-year-old intends to take her new obsession further. "AI is going to change women’s performance research from the bottom up, and I want to be a part of it," she writes. "I studied computer science at Harvard. I worked in venture capital. I actively invest in AI companies. I race on the Women’s WorldTour. I am training to defend Olympic gold on home soil in LA 2028. I’ve applied all of that knowledge to building this."

She closes with a glimpse into her own story. "I came into cycling late. I did not win because I had the deepest race history or the most experience. I won because I used my brain as much as I could. Before my first European race, I made flashcards of the riders, I studied every corner of every course, and I analyzed my data rigorously. I am doing the same thing now, with AI."

Read also

Write a comment

Tom van der Salm

Tom van der Salm (27) comes from the charming town of Zeilberg (Deurne) in the Netherlands and has been working as editor-in-chief & journalist at IDL Pro Cycling's parent site, In de Leiderstrui, since 2019. He travels with the peloton from the Tour de France to the AlUla Tour and from the World Championships in Rwanda or Canada to the Zilvermeercross in Mol. In his spare time he enjoys playing football, mountain biking, running, walking with his Labrador/Stabyhoun, investing, holidays, (specialty) beers, reading, cooking and watching sports & documentaries!

Contact: [email protected]

See author's posts

IDL-productions

Pogačar, Vingegaard and Van Aert went faster again in 2026... except when they didn't

Team GB dominate, China on the rise, Lavreysen the best ever? Five takeaways from the 2026 Track World Championships

Track World Championships day 2: A golden day for Team GB, Levreysen goes 2 for 2, and Kopecky eliminates the competition

Rumours, speculation and guesswork: 2027 Tour de France route will be revealed live on October 22 in Paris

Vollering adds the Women’s European Championships road race jersey to her rainbow wardrobe

Latest Cycling News

Pedersen says Álvarez was cocky on Lidl-Trek team night out: 'Now he’ll have to start competing'

Pogačar's 2027 plans could shape Paul Seixas's route route to his top priority, the World Championships

Cyclist Alliance 2026 survey reveals massive inequality in Women's pro peloton

2027 Giro d'Italia route reveal: We'll know on Tuesday if Slovenian start and Zoncolan finale rumours are true

Team Manager at Bardiani is completely done with cycling: "Everything is falling apart under Pogačar"

Popular Cycling News

Tadej Pogačar on Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Boonen, but also kiwi/pineapple, visualisation and the Gravel World Championships

Disgruntled Sjklemose could be best suited rider for Tour de France 2027 at Lidl-Trek: 'That doesn’t sit well'