Anna Kiesenhofer

{{infobox cyclist

| name = Anna Kiesenhofer

| image = 2022-08-17 European Championships 2022 – Road Cycling Women's Time Trial by Sandro Halank–055.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Kiesenhofer at the 2022 European Championships

| nickname =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1991|2|14}}

| birth_place = Niederkreuzstetten, Austria

| death_date =

| death_place =

| weight =

| currentteam =

| discipline = Road

| role = Rider

| ridertype = Time trialist

| amateuryears1 = 2015–2016

| amateurteam1 = —

| amateuryears2 = 2018–2019

| amateurteam2 = —

| amateuryears3 = 2020

| amateurteam3 = Cookina–Graz

| amateuryears4 = 2021–2022

| amateurteam4 = —

| proyears1 = 2017

| proteam1 = {{UCI team code|LSL|2017}}

| proyears2 = 2023–2024

| proteam2 = {{UCI team code|CGS|2023}}

| majorwins =

One-day races and Classics

:Olympic Road Race (2020)

:{{nowrap|National Road Race Championships (2019, 2024)}}

:National Time Trial Championships
(2019, 2020, 2021, 2024)

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalCountry| {{AUT}} }}

{{MedalGold| 2020 Tokyo | Cycling at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's individual road race}}

| show-medals = yes}}

Anna Kiesenhofer ({{IPA|de|ˈanaː ˈkiːsn̩ˌhoːfɐ}}; born 14 February 1991) is an Austrian professional cyclist and mathematician, who last rode for UCI Women's WorldTeam {{UCI team code|CGS}}.

Kiesenhofer gained fame when she won the gold medal in the women's individual road race at the 2020 Summer Olympics, the first Summer Olympics gold medal for Austria since 2004 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".{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/26/sport/anna-kiesenhofer-olympic-gold-tokyo-2020-spt-intl/index.html|title=Anna Kiesenhofer is a math genius who just pulled off one of the biggest shocks in Olympics history|publisher=CNN|last1=Wire |first1=Coy|last2=Haq|first2=Sana Noor|date=July 26, 2021|access-date=July 26, 2021 }}

Academic career

Kiesenhofer studied mathematics at the Vienna University of Technology (2008–11), completing her Master's degree at Emmanuel College, Cambridge (2011–12).{{Cite news|url=https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/sport/tokyo-olympics-how-austria-s-anna-kiesenhofer-went-from-cam-9208994/

|title=Tokyo Olympics: How Austria's Anna Kiesenhofer went from Cambridge University Cycling Club to women's road race gold|first=Mark|last=Taylor|

date=2021-07-25|publisher=Cambridge Independent|accessdate=2022-07-16}} She earned her PhD at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia with her thesis on Integrable systems on b-symplectic manifolds in 2016.{{Cite web|title=Anna Kiesenhofer – The Mathematics Genealogy Project|url=https://www.mathgenealogy.org/id.php?id=211772|access-date=2021-07-25|website=www.mathgenealogy.org}} From 2017 to 2021 Kiesenhofer was a postdoctoral researcher at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and was part of a group researching nonlinear partial differential equations which arise in mathematical physics.{{Cite web |title=Former Collaborators |url=https://www.epfl.ch/labs/pde/people/formers-collaborators/ |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=EPFL |language=en-GB}} Kiesenhofer has authored several scholarly journal articles including:

Braddell, R., Kiesenhofer, A., & Miranda, E. (2020). $b$ -Structures on Lie groups and Poisson reduction. {{arXiv|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. {{doi|10.1080/03605302.2021.1936021}}
Braddell, R., Kiesenhofer, A., & Miranda, E. (2018). A $b$ -symplectic slice theorem. {{arXiv|1811.11894}}
Kiesenhofer, A., & Miranda, E. (2017). Cotangent Models for Integrable Systems. Communications in Mathematical Physics, 350(3), 1123–1145. {{doi|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. {{doi|10.1134/S1560354716060058}}

Cycling career

Kiesenhofer participated in triathlon and duathlon 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 entered the Tour de l'Ardèche but she was the victim of a fall on the first stage. She failed to recover and after several difficult stages decided to withdraw.{{cite web |title=Anna Kiesenhofer. " Les courses que je trouve les plus attractives sont des épreuves difficiles comme l'Emakumeen Euskal Bira, le Tour d'Italie et le Tour de l'Ardèche."|url=http://www.velo101.com/feminines/article/interview-danna-kiesenhofer--15389|website=velo101|date=9 September 2016 |access-date=8 January 2017}}

In 2016, she won the Coupe d'Espagne.{{cite web|title=COPA DE ESPAÑA DE CICLISMO FEMENINO 2016|url=http://www.rfec.com/sites/rfec.com/files/Resumen%20Copa%20de%20Espa%C3%B1a%202016.pdf|website=RFEC|language=es|access-date=8 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109113248/http://www.rfec.com/sites/rfec.com/files/Resumen%20Copa%20de%20Espa%C3%B1a%202016.pdf|archive-date=9 January 2017|url-status=dead}} 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, Sara Olsson, Vita Heine and Silvia Valsecchi. 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. On the ascent, Kiesenhofer joined her. She won the stage by almost four minutes over Flávia Oliveira and she took the lead in the overall standings.{{cite web|title=3ème étape 2016|url=http://tcfia.org/index.php/actualites/tcfia-2016/3eme-etape-2016|website=Site officiel|access-date=14 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160912183723/http://www.tcfia.org/index.php/actualites/tcfia-2016/3eme-etape-2016|archive-date=12 September 2016|url-status=dead}} The next day, Flávia Oliveira escaped in turn and she took Kiesenhofer's pink jersey.{{cite web|title=4ème étape 2016|url=http://tcfia.org/index.php/actualites/tcfia-2016/4eme-etape-2016|website=Site officiel|access-date=22 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160912012222/http://www.tcfia.org/index.php/actualites/tcfia-2016/4eme-etape-2016|archive-date=12 September 2016|url-status=dead}} She kept her second place in the overall standings until the end of the race.{{cite web|title=7ème étape 2016|url=http://tcfia.org/index.php/actualites/tcfia-2016/7eme-etape-2016|website=Site officiel|access-date=17 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918013122/http://tcfia.org/index.php/actualites/tcfia-2016/7eme-etape-2016|archive-date=18 September 2016|url-status=dead}}

In July 2021, as Austria's sole representative in the 137 km-long Olympic women's road race in Tokyo, Japan, she won the gold medal, crossing the finish line 75 seconds in front of Annemiek van Vleuten 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.{{cite news |last1=Boren |first1=Cindy |title=A Dutch cyclist thought she had won Olympic gold, but an Austrian was way ahead of her |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/07/25/anna-kiesenhofer-olympic-cycling/ |access-date=26 July 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=25 July 2021 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210725204610/https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/07/25/anna-kiesenhofer-olympic-cycling/ |archive-date=25 July 2021 |url-status=live}} In the race, she initiated a breakaway from the start, and was joined by four other competitors.{{cite news |last1=Benson |first1=Daniel |title=Olympics: Shock gold for Anna Kiesenhofer in women's road race |url=https://www.cyclingnews.com/races/olympic-games-2021/women-s-road-race/results/ |access-date=25 July 2021 |work=cyclingnews.com |date=25 July 2021}} With 86 km to go, the leading group, now down to Kiesenhofer, Omer Shapira, and Anna Plichta, formed a 10-minute advantage over the chasing peloton.{{cite news |last1=McCurry |first1=Justin |title=Anna Kiesenhofer claims shock road race glory as Van Vleuten mistakes silver for gold |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jul/25/anna-kiesenhofer-claims-shock-road-race-glory-as-van-vleuten-mistakes-silver-for-gold-olympics |access-date=25 July 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=25 July 2021}} 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,{{cite web|url=https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/olympics-van-vleuten-celebrates-but-mistakes-silver-for-gold/|title=Olympics: Van Vleuten celebrates but mistakes silver for gold|first=Amy|last=Jones|work=CyclingNews|date=25 July 2021|access-date=25 July 2021}} finished the race unaware that Kiesenhofer was still in front of them.{{cite news |last1=Parker |first1=Ian |title=Anna Kiesenhofer storms to gold as runner-up crosses line thinking she had won |url=https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/anna-kiesenhofer-storms-gold-runner-101910116.html |access-date=25 July 2021 |work=Yahoo! Sports |agency=PA Media |date=25 July 2021}} Kiesenhofer later said she "couldn't believe" she won adding that she would have been happy with a top 25 finish.{{cite news |last1=Gay |first1=Jason |title=The Math Ph.D. Who Just Shocked Olympic Cycling |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/tokyo-olympic-cycling-anna-kiesenhofer-road-race-11627229016 |access-date=26 July 2021 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=25 July 2021 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210725205539/https://www.wsj.com/articles/tokyo-olympic-cycling-anna-kiesenhofer-road-race-11627229016 |archive-date=25 July 2021 |url-status=live}}

After racing as a privateer in 2022, Kiesenhofer rode for Roland Cycling team for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.{{Cite web |last=Farr |first=Stephen |date=2023-01-31 |title=Olympic champion Anna Kiesenhofer joins Israel-Premier Tech-Roland |url=https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/olympic-champion-anna-kiesenhofer-joins-israel-premier-tech-roland/ |access-date=2023-04-07 |website=cyclingnews.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Anna KIESENHOFER |url=https://www.uci.org/rider-details/928703 |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=UCI |language=en-GB}}{{Cite Instagram |postid=DEnN53QN_3L |user=annakiesenhofer |title=I don't have a team right now and my goals for the season are still not completely defined (although probably there will be a big focus on time-trialing and races with the national team). |author=Anna Kiesenhofer |date=9 January 2025}} In 2025, she joined Team Picnic PostNL as a trainer.{{cite news |title=Olympic Champion Anna Kiesenhofer Joins Team Picnic–PostNL as Trainer |url=https://voxwomen.com/olympic-champion-anna-kiesenhofer-joins-team-picnic-postnl-as-trainer/ |access-date=30 May 2025 |work=Voxwomen |date=27 May 2025}}

Major results

;2015

: 1st Overall Semaine Cantalienne

::1st Stages 2 & 6

;2016

: 2nd Overall Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche

::1st Stage 3

: 2nd Time trial, 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 20px Road race

::1st 20px Time trial

: 4th Thun-West Time trial

: 5th Ljubljana–Domžale–Ljubljana TT

: 5th Time trial, UEC European Road Championships

: 8th Chrono des Nations

;2020

: 1st 20px Time trial, National Road Championships

: 1st Hochkar Bergeinzelzeitfahren Time trial

: 3rd Overall Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche

;2021

: 1st 15px Road race, Olympic Games

: 1st 20px Time trial, National Road Championships

: 2nd Chrono des Nations

: 7th Time trial, UEC European Road Championships

;2022

: National Road Championships

::2nd Time trial

::2nd Road race

: 5th Time trial, UEC European Road Championships

: 10th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships

;2023

: National Road Championships

::1st 20px Time trial

::5th Road race

: 1st Chrono des Nations

: 1st Chrono Féminin de la Gatineau

: 1st Chrono de la Sionge

: 3rd Championnats d'Europe des Grimpeurs

: 6th Time trial, UEC European Road Championships

;2024

: National Road Championships

::1st 20px Road race

::1st 20px Time trial

: 3rd Grand Prix MOPT

Awards

Kiesenhofer was awarded the Niki prize as Sportlerin des Jahres 2021 (Sportswoman of the Year) by Sports Media Austria, an association of sports journalists.{{cite web|title=Sportlerwahl : Kiesenhofer und Kriechmayr holen Niki|periodical=|publisher=|url=https://sport.orf.at/stories/3085587/|format=|access-date=|last=|date=2021-10-14|language=|pages=|quote=}} That year she was also named Lower Austria's sportswoman of the year and won the international success category at Die Presse's Austrian of the Year awards.{{cite web |url=https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/anna-kiesenhofer-named-austrian-sportswoman-of-the-year/ |title=Anna Kiesenhofer named Austrian sportswoman of year |last=Price |first=Matilda |date=28 October 2021 |website=cyclingnews.com |access-date=7 November 2021}}