5 May 2016: Last week, Sarah Hammer’s cycling coach and husband Andy Sparks sent us an update:
I am happy to report that our team won the first-ever team pursuit at our world championships in March. The sad news is that we had to beat Canada in the process…. This is the first-ever win in this event for the US and the ladies now enter Rio as the gold medal favorites. This also added one more world title for Sarah making her the most decorated cyclist in US history.
Umm what?! Sarah Hammer is now the most decorated cyclist in US history? That’s phenomenal!
Our crew really enjoyed getting to know Sarah and Andy when we worked with them on our sports tech and science documentary The Equalizer. We’ll definitely be rooting for them (and the Canadian team) this summer.
A total champ
If you’re not familiar with Sarah’s story, she’s a two-time Olympian (2008, 2012, a two-time Olympic silver-medallist, a world champion many times over, and a world record holder on the track in the 3000 m individual pursuit. She actually “retired” from cycling in 2003, but quickly came back after she was inspired by the 2004 Olympic Games.