2024-07-29 15:30:03
Uncertain when she would recover, Batten questioned if she should continue with her mountain biking career. was it worth it?
“To overcome that one was hard,” she said.
Then in a test event on the 2024 Olympic mountain bike course on Elancourt Hill outside Paris in May, Batten crashed again. During practice, she crashed again, hitting her head. This time, she recognized the concussion symptoms and backed off immediately.
“I took five days off the bike, I didn’t ride at all, and luckily I think that midseason break was valuable for my rest and recovery in general,” she said.
With three world cup wins this season and five other podium finishes, Batten came to Paris as the top ranked female mountain biker in the world — a favorite to win an Olympic gold medal. That looked unlikely when France’s Ferrand-Prévot got an early lead that she continued building, winning her first Olympic gold medal on the eve of her retirement.
Behind her, Batten battled in a group of four women sitting in fourth through seventh places. Just as the group caught Ferrand-Prévot’s teammate Loana Lacomte, Batten was forced to make a pitstop. Her wheel had broken.
“This course, is relentless,” explained Batten. “There are sneaky rocks that can give you a flat tire. I broke my wheel today, somewhere I can’t remember where, I think it was maybe lap four. You have to adapt from all the unpredictable circumstances and just race your best and try not to make mistakes.”
With a new wheel, Batten chased relentlessly and moved into medal contention with Swedish rider Jenny Rissveds (2016 Olympic gold medalist) just as Lacomte crashed and Puck Pieterse, a Dutch rider who had been sitting securely in second place for most of the race, suffered a flat tire. On the last lap, Batten gapped Rissveds and crossed the line for silver.
Batten was happy for Ferrand-Prévot finally winning an Olympic medal and in front of a home crowd — a French rider winning at a French Olympic Games. When asked if she might do the same at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in four years, Batten was not quite ready to look ahead.
“It was amazing to see Pauline win here, and the next one’s mine,” said Batten. “As athletes, we’re always thinking in the future, we’re always preparing for big goals. But right now, I’m in the moment. I have prepared for a long time for this one, and I’m going to enjoy it.”
Then she added, “But yeah, to have the Olympics in your home country is absolutely incredible, and I think it’s an even the bigger goal.”
An award-winning freelance writer based in Vermont, Peggy Shinn is in Paris covering her eighth Olympic Games. She has contributed to TeamUSA.org since its inception in 2008.
