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

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Jessica Valente successfully defended her 2020 cycling medal on 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 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. And while China’s Olympics are done, Team USA still has a chance to tie the gold medal count with the final event of the entire Olympics: women’s basketball.

If the USA women’s basketball team can continue their 60-game Olympic winning streak when they play France in the gold medal game Sunday morning, they will tie China with 40 gold medals each. China was particularly dominant in men’s diving, sweeping gold in all eight diving events at the Olympics.

In the overall medal count, though, Team USA is way ahead. They have 125 overall medals, and will have 126 by the end of the women’s gold medal game (since Team USA is already guaranteed a medal). China has finished with 91 total medals.