2024 Paris Olympics: Jennifer Valente defends gold in omnium, helps USA tie China in gold medal race

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Jessica Valente successfully defended her 2020 cycling medal Sunday morning, placing first in women’s omnium to win her second gold of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Daria Pikulik of Poland won silver and Ally Wollaston of New Zealand won bronze.

Valente, 29, was in first throughout the points-based, multi-race event. She found ways to maximize her points over the four races and was so far ahead of the field in the final points race that all she had to do was avoid crashing out to win.

This is Valente’s second gold medal of the week, having helped Team USA to the top of the podium in the women’s team pursuit on Wednesday.

Valente made a huge difference in the gold medal race between Team USA and China. After Valente’s gold, Team USA had 39 gold medals to China’s 40, needing just one more gold to tie it. The women’s basketball team got the job done a bit later, winning gold over France to bring the U.S. and China even.

In the overall medal count, though, Team USA is way ahead. It has 126 overall medals while China has just 91.