Anna Kiesenhofer (born 14 February 1991) is an Austrian professional cyclist and

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

, who rides for

UCI Women's Team A UCI Women's Team is a women's road bicycle team sanctioned by the International Cycling Union ( UCI). These teams compete in the major women's bicycle races including the UCI Women's Road World Cup and the team time trial for trade teams at the ...

Israel Premier Tech Roland. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

at the

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

(EPFL). Kiesenhofer gained fame when she won the gold medal in the women's individual road race at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, the first Summer Olympics gold medal for

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

since

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

and their first cycling Olympic gold medal since 1896. Unfancied for a medal pre-race, she attacked in the first seconds of the event and soloed to victory, her pursuers mistakenly unaware of her position, in a win described as "one of the greatest upsets in Olympics and cycling history".

Academic career

Kiesenhofer studied mathematics at the

Vienna University of Technology TU Wien (TUW; german: Technische Universität Wien; still known in English as the Vienna University of Technology from 1975–2014) is one of the major universities in Vienna, Austria. The university finds high international and domestic recogn ...

(2008–11), completing her

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

's degree at the Emmanuel College,

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

(2011–12). She earned her PhD at the

Polytechnic University of Catalonia The Technical University of Catalonia ( ca, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, , es, link=no, Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña; UPC), currently referred to as BarcelonaTech, is the largest engineering university in Catalonia, Spai ...

with her thesis on ''

Integrable system In mathematics, integrability is a property of certain dynamical systems. While there are several distinct formal definitions, informally speaking, an integrable system is a dynamical system with sufficiently many conserved quantities, or first ...

s on b-

symplectic manifold In differential geometry, a subject of mathematics, a symplectic manifold is a smooth manifold, M , equipped with a closed nondegenerate differential 2-form \omega , called the symplectic form. The study of symplectic manifolds is called sympl ...

s'' in 2016. Kiesenhofer is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the

(EPFL) and is part of a group researching nonlinear

partial differential equations In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which imposes relations between the various partial derivatives of a multivariable function. The function is often thought of as an "unknown" to be solved for, similarly to ...

which arise in mathematical physics. Kiesenhofer has authored several scholarly journal articles including: * Braddell, R., Kiesenhofer, A., & Miranda, E. (2020)''. b$-Structures on Lie groups and Poisson reduction.'' https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.04770 * Kiesenhofer, A., & Krieger, J. (2021). Small data global regularity for half-wave maps in n = 4 dimensions. ''Communications in Partial Differential Equations'', ''46''(12), 2305–2324. https://doi.org/10.1080/03605302.2021.1936021 * Braddell, R., Kiesenhofer, A., & Miranda, E. (2018). ''A $b$-symplectic slice theorem''. https://arxiv.org/abs/1811.11894 * Kiesenhofer, A., & Miranda, E. (2017). Cotangent Models for Integrable Systems. ''Communications in Mathematical Physics'', ''350''(3), 1123–1145. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00220-016-2720-x * Kiesenhofer, A., & Miranda, E. (2016). Noncommutative integrable systems on b-symplectic manifolds. ''Regular & Chaotic Dynamics'', ''21''(6), 643–659. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1560354716060058

Cycling career

Kiesenhofer participated in

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the t ...

and

duathlon Duathlon is an athletic event that consists of a running leg, followed by a cycling leg and then another running leg in a format similar to triathlons. The International Triathlon Union governs the sport internationally. Distance and format ...

from 2011 to 2013. After an injury, she had to limit her running and therefore concentrated on cycling from 2014. She joined the Catalan team ''Frigoríficos Costa Brava – Naturalium''. In 2015, she participated in cyclo-sports, including the Gran Fondo New York, which ends at Mont Ventoux and won. She entered the

Tour de l'Ardèche Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

but she was the victim of a fall on the first stage. She failed to recover and after several difficult stages decided to withdraw. In 2016, she won the Coupe d'Espagne. In September, she took part in the Tour de l'Ardèche in the international team. On the third stage, the first breakaway started at the 12th kilometer. It was composed of Dani Christmas,

Anna Plichta Anna Plichta (born 10 February 1992) is a Polish former racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2016 and 2021 for five different teams. She rode at the UCI Road World Championships every year between 2014 and 2020, and also represented Po ...

Sara Olsson Sara Olsson (born 6 March 1990) is a Swedish racing cyclist. She rode at the 2014 UCI Road World Championships The 2014 UCI Road World Championships took place in Ponferrada, Spain, from 21 to 28 September 2014. The cycling championships cons ...

Vita Heine Vita Heine (née Pētersone; born 21 November 1984) is a racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's Continental Team . Career Born in Riga in Latvia, Heine competed for Latvia in the 2013 UCI women's road race in Florence. She obtai ...

and

Silvia Valsecchi Silvia Valsecchi (born 19 July 1982) is an Italian former racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2021 for the Itera Team, and . She competed in the 2013 UCI women's team time trial in Florence. Major results Road ;2004 : 8t ...

. Twenty kilometers away, they were joined by Kiesenhofer. In the descent of the pass of Murs, the groups were seven minutes and twenty-five seconds ahead. After Blavac, Anna Plichta went off alone and she had a lead of a minute thirty at the foot of

Mont Ventoux Mont Ventoux (; oc, Ventor, label= Provençal ) is a mountain in the Provence region of southern France, located some northeast of Carpentras, Vaucluse. On the north side, the mountain borders the department of Drôme. At , it is the highest m ...

. On the ascent, Kiesenhofer joined her. She won the stage by almost four minutes over

Flávia Oliveira Flávia Maria de Oliveira Paparella (born 27 October 1981) is a Brazilian racing cyclist. She competed in the 2013 UCI Women's World Championship Road Race in Florence, as well as the 2014 UCI Women's Road World Championships in Ponferrada. S ...

and she took the lead in the overall standings. The next day, Flávia Oliveira escaped in turn and she took Kiesenhofer's pink jersey. She kept her second place in the overall standings until the end of the race. In July 2021, as Austria's sole representative in the 137 km-long Olympic women's road race in

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, she won the gold medal, crossing the finish line 75 seconds in front of

Annemiek van Vleuten Annemiek van Vleuten (born 8 October 1982) is a Dutch professional road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . Van Vleuten is a two-time winner of both the road race (2019 and 2022) and the time trial (2017 and 2018) at the UC ...

of the Netherlands. Kiesenhofer trained for the event without a coach or a professional team, and was not viewed as a contender to win a medal. In the race, she initiated a breakaway from the start, and was joined by four other competitors. With 86 km to go, the leading group, now down to Kiesenhofer,

Omer Shapira Omer Shapira ( he, עומר שפירא; born 9 September 1994) is an Israeli racing cyclist, who rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . She is an eight-time national road champion; winning the Israeli National Time Trial Championships in 2020 and 2022 ...

, and

, formed a 10-minute advantage over the chasing

peloton In a road bicycle race, the peloton (from French, originally meaning 'platoon') is the main group or pack of riders. Riders in a group save energy by riding close ( drafting or slipstreaming) to (particularly behind) other riders. The reductio ...

. Kiesenhofer broke away by herself for the final 41 km while climbing the Kagosaka Pass, dropping Shapira and Plichta, who were later caught by the peloton. Many in the peloton, including silver medalist Van Vleuten who celebrated mistakenly thinking she had won the gold, finished the race unaware that Kiesenhofer was still in front of them. Kiesenhofer later said she "couldn't believe" she won adding that she would have been happy with a top 25 finish. After racing as a privateer in 2022, Kiesenhofer joined the Israel Premier Tech Roland team for the 2023 season.

Major results

;2015 :1st Overall Semaine Cantalienne ::1st Stages 2 & 6 ;2016 : 2nd Overall

Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche is a women's staged cycle race which takes place in the Ardèche region in southeastern France. The race was rated by the UCI as a 2.2 race, until 2018 when it was promoted to 2.1 status. Fo ...

::1st Stage 3 : 2nd

Time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

, National Road Championships : Copa de España ::2nd Gran Premio Comunidad de Cantabria ::2nd Trofeo Zamora ::4th Trofeo Gobierno de La Rioja ::5th Zizurkil-Villabona ::7th Trofeo Ria de Marin ::10th Trofeo Bicicletas Jonny ;2018 :5th Thun-West Time trial ;2019 : National Road Championships ::1st MaillotAustria

::1st

Road race :4th Thun-West Time trial : 5th Ljubljana–Domžale–Ljubljana TT : 5th

, European Road Championships : 8th

Chrono des Nations Chrono des Nations – Les Herbiers Vendée is a single-day individual time trial road bicycle race held annually in October in Les Herbiers, Vendée, France. Since 2005, the race is organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. It was orig ...

;2020 : 1st MaillotAustria

, National Road Championships :1st Hochkar Bergeinzelzeitfahren Time trial : 3rd Overall

;2021 : 1st Gold medal olympic

Road race,

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

: 1st

, National Road Championships : 2nd

: 7th

, UEC European Road Championships

Awards

Kiesenhofer was awarded the

Niki __NOTOC__ Niki may refer to: People * Niki (given name) * NIKI (singer), Indonesian singer and songwriter * Niki DeMar, American singer * Niki Etsuko (1928–1986), Japanese author of mystery fiction Places * Niki, Hokkaido, a town in Japan * Ni ...

prize as '' Sportlerin des Jahres 2021'' (Sportswoman of the Year) by Sports Media Austria, an association of sports journalists. That year she was also named

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

's sportswoman of the year and won the international success category at ''

Die Presse ''Die Presse'' is a German-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vienna, Austria. It is considered a newspaper of record for Austria. History and profile ''Die Presse'' was first printed on 3 July 1848 as a liberal (libertarian)-bourgeoi ...

s Austrian of the Year awards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiesenhofer, Anna Austrian female cyclists 1991 births Living people Olympic cyclists for Austria Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Austria Olympic medalists in cycling Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Austrian mathematicians People from Mistelbach District TU Wien alumni Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Polytechnic University of Catalonia alumni Academic staff of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Women mathematicians