Jennifer Valente Wins Another Olympic Gold Medal in Track Cycling’s Omnium

MONTIGNY-LE-BRETONNEUX, France — Three years ago, Jennifer Valente became the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic track cycling event when she claimed gold in the omnium.

At the Olympic Games Paris 2024, she put an exclamation point on her omnium dominance.

Valente won two (of four) races and then effectively shut down almost every move in the points race, collecting 144 points, 15 more than runner-up Daria Pikulik from Poland. Ally Wollaston from New Zealand rounded out the podium with 125 points.

Valente’s gold medal is her fifth Olympic medal total, won over three Olympic Games, and her second gold of these Games. She won a silver medal in team pursuit at the Olympic Games Rio 2016, a silver and gold at the Olympic Games Toyko 2020.

“First and foremost, I'm just really tired,” Valente said, standing in her full podium outfit in the stifling velodrome. “This has been a really long process, and even though it was a three year quad, I think it was really jam packed into three years, and we've been nearly full gas the whole time. So this is such a way to go out.”

First introduced at the Olympic Games London 2012, the omnium — meant to determine the best all-around rider (sprinting to endurance) — has changed since its debut. Once a six-race event contested over two days, it’s now a four-race event held on the same day.

The scratch race comes first, where the first rider across the line after 30 laps wins, gaining 40 points toward the omnium total. Next up is the tempo race, sometimes called the “point-a-lap” because the first rider across the line on each lap earns a point (after the first five laps); the rider with the most points at the end wins.

The third event is the elimination race, where the last rider across the line every two laps is eliminated until there is one left. With 22 riders in the Paris 2024 women’s field, they did 44 laps. The omnium ends with the 80-lap points race, with a sprint for 5, 3, 2, 1 points every 10 laps, double points at the finish and 20 points for lapping the field.

Since her victory at the Tokyo Olympic Games, Valente has dominated the discipline, with two world titles in 2022 and 2023.

A track cycling veteran, Valente got her start at age 13 taking free classes for kids at the San Diego velodrome. A year later, she tagged along with friends to the national championships and ended up winning two junior titles.

Marty Nothstein, an Olympic gold medalist in track cycling, noticed the young talent and told Valente’s coach at the time, “She’s a special one, make sure you take care of it,” reported the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Good at track sprinting, Valente racked up 12 junior national and one junior world title. At age 16, she was named to USA Cycling’s 2012 Olympic “long team,” the list of riders from whom the Olympic cycling team was selected. She did not compete in London, but it helped her realize that competing at an Olympic Games was possible.

In the summer of 2013, Valente moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to train and met Sarah Hammer, who encouraged her to try track’s endurance races (individual pursuit, team pursuit, and omnium). At the time, Hammer had won two of her four Olympic silver medals (in team pursuit and omnium).

“She moved out to Colorado to train with me at 18,” said Hammer at the time. “And since day one, she has always been prepared for training and brings an intensity and determination that I've never seen before at that age.”

Within a couple of years, Valente was a world cup podium contender in track’s endurance events. At the 2015 UCI World Track Championships, the U.S. women finished fifth in team pursuit. A day later, Valente won her first world championship medal — silver in individual pursuit.

In 2016, the U.S. claimed the world team pursuit title, with Valente and Hammer on the team. Then a few months later, at the 2016 Olympic Games, they claimed silver in the team pursuit. It was Hammer’s fourth Olympic medal and Valente’s first.

After Rio, Valente became one of the veterans on the team. She has earned a slew of world championship hardware, including three more team pursuit titles. And Valente started finishing on the podium in the omnium.

Going to Tokyo, Valente was considered an omnium medal favorite, though perhaps not for gold. But the American rode well, winning two of the four omnium races. She came away with the first Olympic gold medal for the U.S. women in track cycling.

“This had always been a goal,” Valente said in Tokyo. “And to achieve that just opens your eyes to continue to look forward and find new opportunities and new goals for the future.”

The future was bright indeed. After winning the world omnium titles in 2022 and 2023, Valente came to Paris as a heavy favorite to defend an Olympic title.

She started her 2024 Olympic omnium campaign by helping Team USA win the team pursuit last week. Then she and Lily Williams finished fourth in the Madison race. On the final day of the Paris Olympic Games, she came into the omnium confident in her abilities.

“I knew what I was capable of, and I think that some strong performances earlier in the week actually took some pressure off myself,” Valente said. “I was able to just race this as a bonus at the end of the week.”

Valente rode a smart scratch race, moving to the front with two laps to go and holding the lead for the maximum 40 points. An hour later in the tempo race, she rode a wily race and finished second, giving her 38 points toward the omnium total. The elimination race ended with Valente and Australia’s Georgia Baker duking it out as the final two riders on the track. The American began her sprint with a lap to go, and Baker could not hold on.

Then in the points race, Valente won the first of 10 sprints and gained a lap on the field when she needed to. By the end of 80 laps, she sat at the back of the pack, her gold medal sealed.

“My career has always been kind of revolving around the Olympics,” she said. “So to be able to perform on this stage and perform well on the day has just been really a dream come true.”

Valente’s face lit up when she learned that she had tied Olympic diver Greg Louganis for the San Diegan with the most Olympic medals (Louganis won four Olympic gold medals and a silver in the 1976, 1984 and 1988 Games).

“Those are things that come out in the days and weeks and months later that you realize maybe you were creating history,” she said. “But in the moment, it's not on your mind.”

Valente’s gold was one of the final medals won by Team USA at the 2024 Paris Games. Team USA athletes have claimed 40 Olympic gold medals at these Games, tied with China.

An award-winning freelance writer based in Vermont, Peggy Shinn is in Paris covering her eighth Olympic Games. She has contributed to TeamUSA.org since its inception in 2008.