Anna kiesenhofer, who stunned the cycling world at Tokyo 2020
Considered a novice compared to her competitors, she claimed Austria's first gold medal in Olympic cycling since the first modern Games in 1896. No one was talking about her ahead of the Tokyo 2020 women's 137-km road race. but they certainly are now.
She turned pro around 4 years ago. She hasn't had a professional contract since 2017 and trains without a coach by herself. In the race, she decided to leave her breakaway group to go solo for the last 40 km and brilliantly executed her disciplined solo cycling that her pursuers forgot she was ahead of them.
Before the race, all she had was a little hope and a desire to win. Meters away from the finish line, she looked back over her shoulder one last time to find no other riders in sight. Unable to believe her victory, she staggered towards her team crying tears of joy!
Kiesenhofer's victory was so unexpected that when Dutch three-times world champion Annemiek Van Vieuten surged across the finfish line. She was convinced that she had taken the gold and triumphantly raised her hands." Yes. I thought I had won. I'm gutted about this," she later said.
“ We got some riders back and we thought we were going for the win. But that was not the case.” Van Vieuten's teammate Anna van der Breggen said. Briton rider Lizzie Diegnan also congratulated Van Vieuten in the first her post-race interviews, unaware of the most peculiar twist at the climax.
She hold a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and is currently pursuing post-doctorial search in mathematics at the EPFL Switzerland. “ As a mathematician, you are used to solving problem on your own, so that's the way I approach cycling” says the Austrian rider.
The Austrian actively participated in triathlon from 2011 to 2013 and turned her focus towards cycling in 2014. She has won the Austrian national time trial championships from 2019-2021, and won the national road race there in 2019.
“ I dare to be different," Anna said while sharing how her approach is different and unpredictable. “ People didn't predict, people didn't think that I might win,” she said, adding “ You just have to follow your instincts”.
