Even without competing at the Paris Olympics, Kristin Armstrong was still honoured with two medals over the weekend.
The three-time Olympic gold medalist received two Order of Ikkos awards, bestowed upon her by athletes Chloe Dygert and Haley Batten.
Three days into the 2024 Summer Games and Team USA has already won two Olympic cycling medals. Dygert won bronze in the individual time trial, and Batten took silver in the cross-country mountain bike race.
Armstrong has coached the two athletes for years, and on Sunday, they were able to thank their coach in a big way by awarding her the Order of Ikkos.
Created in 2008, the Order of Ikkos is a special honour awarded by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC). It recognizes the coaches of U.S. Olympic and Paralympic medalists and celebrates the significant role that coaches play in their athletes' success. Each U.S. Olympic and Paralympic medalist may bestow the Order of Ikkos to one person who has been an integral part of their journey to the Olympics.
Both Dygert and Batten bestowed this honour to Armstrong. In doing so, the three-time Olympic gold medalist becomes a three-time Order of Ikkos recipient as well. Dygert had previously presented Armstrong with this honour in 2021.
Armstrong, 50, won the gold medal in the individual time trial at three consecutive Olympic Summer Games, beginning with the 2008 Beijing Olympics and continuing until the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Armstrong also holds six U.S. National Championships titles and two World Championship titles, all in the individual time trial.
Her success appears to have transferred onto her coaching clients, past and present:
Dygert (Canyon-SRAM), who will continue to compete in the road race and the Team Pursuit in Paris, is already a three-time Olympic medalist and nine-time world champion.
Jennifer Valente (Virginia's Blue Ridge TWENTY24) is America's most-decorated track cyclist to date, with three Olympic and 18 UCI World Championship medals in her possession. She will compete at the Paris Olympics later this week and is likely to expand her collection of trophies.
Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) is one of America's brightest stars on the men's WorldTour. He's the reigning U.S. national time trial champion and has stage wins at Tour de Romandie, the UAE Tour and Paris-Nice to his name.
And in securing the silver medal on Sunday, Batten gave USA Cycling its best-ever Olympic mountain biking result.
The Olympics are far from over for Team USA, with the road races and track events still ahead. USA Cycling has set a goal of 7-10 medals at the Games, and they're on track with two medals in the first three events thus far.
See the schedule of events and meet the medal contenders to root for in our preview here. See our TV and live-streaming guide here.
