Haley Batten Wins Olympic Silver Medal

Haley Batten, a mountain biker for Team USA and a local of Park City, created history on Sunday morning when she took second place in the women’s cross-country mountain bike event.

In terms of both men’s and women’s Olympic mountain bike medals, Batten currently owns the highest one in American history.

She trailed gold medallist Pauline Ferrand-Prévot of Frace through the finish line on Sunday. Jenny Rissveds of Sweden took up the bronze medal, trailing closely behind Batten. Ferrand-Prévot had a sizable advantage.

Haley Batten has experienced each of those outcomes, even competing in the Olympic mountain bike competition in 2024.

Nevertheless, the 25-year-old two-time Olympian triumphed over a broken wheel to secure a silver medal, trailing the four-time Olympian and five-time world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot by less than three minutes.

After the race, Batten remarked, “That was incredible.” “It is quite difficult to perform at a high level in a single day, as any athlete knows. Here at the Olympics, every athlete is the best in the world; they are all fit, strong, and capable of riding at their best.

It was incredible for me to be able to maintain mental clarity and be prepared to race to the best of my abilities despite any obstacles both before and during the race.

It’s the third Olympic medal won by Team USA since women’s mountain biking made its Olympic debut in 1996 and the first silver medal. Susan DeMattei won bronze at the 1996 Games, and Georgia Gould took bronze in 2012.

Batten entered Paris as the top-ranked female mountain biker in the world and the overwhelming favorite to win an Olympic gold medal, having won three world cups this season in addition to five additional podium results. That was improbable after Ferrand-Prévot of France took an early lead, which she maintained, earning her first gold medal at an Olympics just before she was about to retire.

Batten was battling with four other women who were seated in fourth through seventh spot behind her. Batten was forced to stop just as the group was closing up on Loana Lacomte, Ferrand-Prévot’s colleague. Her wheel was damaged.

“This is an intense course,” said Batten. Discreet rocks have the ability to puncture tires. I assume it was maybe lap four, but I do not recall exactly where I broke my wheel today. You only must race as hard as you can and try not to make any blunders while adapting to all the unexpected events.

Who Is Haley Batten?

American cross-country mountain cyclist Haley Batten was born on September 19, 1998.

Batten, a Park City, Utah native, attended Quest University in Canada. In addition to winning a U23 World Cup and two national titles as a junior, Batten also participated in the USA team relay that won a silver medal in the 2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada.

From 2016 to 2019, Batten rode for the Clif Pro Team; in 2020, he joined Specialized Racing; in 2021, he joined Trinity Racing; and from 2022 to now, he is with Specialized Factory Racing. In Albstadt, Germany, Batten rode to a third-place result in her maiden elite World Cup XCO event.

The short-track cross-country MTB World Cup was won by Batten on Friday, May 14, 2021, in the Czech Republic.

She then secured her spot on the 2020 Tokyo Olympic team by finishing in second place at the Nové Město XCO World Cup, which satisfied USA Cycling’s automatic qualifying requirements.

Haley placed gold in both the XCC and XCO events the next weekend in Araxa after winning a bronze in the Maripora XCO during the first World Cup of 2024 in Brazil. Haley earned leader jerseys for both the XCC and XCO with these podiums in Brazil. She finished third in the XCC and second in the XCO at the Third World Cup in Nove Mesto Na Morave.

She would go on to finish first in the XCO at the 4th World Cup in Val d’Sole.

Haley qualified for the 2024 Olympics in Paris thanks to her performance in Brazil. She competed at the Games and took home the silver medal in mountain biking, the first ever for the US.

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