Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Sarah Hammer

Age: 24 (Temecula, Calif.)

EVENTS

Individual Pursuit, Points Race

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None

In 2006, Hammer became the first American woman to win a world pursuit title since Rebecca Twigg’s rainbow ride in 1995. She successfully defended her title in 2007. Hammer also broke Twigg’s 11-year-old national record in the women's 3-kilometer individual pursuit in 2006 with a time of 3:32.865. Since then she's lowered the mark four times, most recently with a time of 3:30.213. She remains among the gold medal favorites for the pursuit.