Homer’s Kristen Faulkner returned to Alaska Friday for the first time since winning two gold medals at the Paris Olympics last summer. She arrived at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, greeted by a small contingent of fans and family chanting “U-S-A! U-S-A!” as she descended the airport steps.
Faulkner won an individual gold medal in the women’s cycling road race, beating some of the world’s best endurance cyclists. She won her second gold medal with Team USA in the team pursuit event.
Faulkner currently lives in San Francisco but grew up in Homer. She said she plans to see old friends and eat fresh fish while home for the holidays.
“I got chills just looking out the window on the airplane,” Faulkner said. “I miss Alaska salmon. We always cook salmon and going skiing and we’re going to go snowmachining in a few days and we always read The Grinch and The Night Before Christmas as books before Christmas Eve.”
Faulkner attended high school in Massachusetts where she competed in three sports. She then rowed competitively at Harvard University before taking up road cycling in 2016. She moved to San Francisco in 2018 and began cycling competitively in 2020. Faulkner said she appreciated the support of her hometown and home state during the Olympic Games.
“It’s so special. I think being from Alaska you feel like the whole state is your community,” Faulkner said. “I’m from a small town, Alaska is a small state, community-wise, and just to feel like I was in Paris with the full backing of my home basically is, yeah, I feel like I’m racing for something bigger than myself.”
Homer Mayor Rachel Lord is excited to welcome Faulkner home. She recalled the beginning of the school year when West Homer Elementary School Principal Eric Waltenbaugh showed Faulkner’s gold medal performance to students, then pointed to her name on a plaque on the wall from when she was a student there.
“The pride and the enthusiasm that those kids felt and feel, and that our staff feel, and our community feels, it's just really awesome and inspirational,” Lord said.
Former Homer Mayor Ken Castner has known Faulkner since she was a child. Faulkner performed nearly every part in Homer’s annual holiday production of The Nutcracker Ballet, which Castner organizes.
“The sense of community is strong whenever you have excellence showing itself, and there's that local pride of being part of a community that nurtures that sort of result,” Castner said.
Faulkner will head back to Europe in January to compete with her professional cycling team EF-Oatly-Cannondale.
“One of my big goals for the season is to win a stage of the Tour de France and hopefully defend my title as U.S. National Champion,” Faulkner said. “It's been a whirlwind you know, a lot of cameras and interviews but all really really great. I’ve been doing a lot of speaking events and hopefully inspiring more youth to go do their dreams.”
A welcome ceremony in Homer is planned for Dec. 27 in the Mariner Theater at Homer High School at 3 p.m.
