Utah native Haley Batten makes history for Team USA with silver medal win
Jul 28, 2024, 11:44 AM | Updated: Jul 31, 2024, 4:37 pm
PARIS, France — Park City native and Team USA mountain biker Haley Batten made history Sunday morning, after winning silver in the women’s mountain bike cross-country race.
Batten now holds the highest mountain biking Olympic medal in U.S. history, for both men and women Olympians.
At the end of Sunday’s race, she followed gold medal winner Frace’s Pauline Ferrand-Prévot through the finish line. Batten was followed closely by bronze winner Jenny Rissveds of Sweden. Ferrand-Prévot held a comfortable lead
The cross-country race was held at Elancourt Hill in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in Paris.
While others challenged her position during the 20-mile race, Batten came through, slowly improving her position with each 2.74-mile lap. Starting in 15th place, she moved to 12th by the end of the first lap. By the time she’d finished her second, she’d taken fifth, and with another lap, she was in fourth place.
Then, Batten was forced to halt by a flat tire approximately halfway through.
“But, you can’t ever count out Team USA,” wrote KSL Sports writer, Chandler Holt.
Batten lost out on 40 seconds and nearly fell from the top ten. After hitting the ground again with a restored tire, Batten triumphed with the next lap, maneuvering her way up to second.
Rissveds challenged her on the seventh and final lap, taking the second-place spot before quickly taking a backseat to Batten again. The two crossed the finish line minutes after Ferrand-Prévot, and Rissveds followed Batten by just seconds.
From the other side of the finish line, Batten circled back to meet Rissveds as she crossed the finish line. The two met and embraced tightly behind handlebars, both smiling, panting, and seemingly in disbelief.
Ferrand-Prévot finished at 1;26:02, Batten at 1:28:59, and Rissvends at 1:29:04.
Gold medalist Pauline Ferrand Prevot of Team France (C), Silver medalist Haley Batten of Team United States (L) and Bronze medalist Jenny Rissveds of Team Sweden (R) pose on the podium during the Women’s Cross-Country Cycling Mountain Bike Gold Medal race on day two of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Elancourt Hill on July 28, 2024 in Elancourt, France. (Tim de Waele, Getty Images)
Reliving the past
On this same course a year ago, Batten crashed. It led to a concussion that kept her from competing at the World Championships, an important qualifier for the Olympics. After pushing through the injury and overcoming doubts, Batten’s silver win was something she’d been manifesting for years.
“I visualized so much and I knew I could be on the podium today,” Batten said.
Batten took up the sport at 9 years old, tearing up trails in her hometown. By the time she was 17, she was racing professionally and later qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where she finished ninth.
She was a frontrunner for the sport after taking home multiple World Cup titles and had her share of setbacks. But ultimately, she had her eyes set on Paris.
Now, they’re slowly honing in on an even bigger Olympic win in Los Angeles.
From Utah to the world
Haley Batten took up mountain biking at age 9. Now, she’s an Olympic silver medalist. (Haley Batten)
Batten told KSL TV before she qualified for Team USA that she benefitted greatly from Park City’s resources in the sport.
“The infrastructure for riding is so incredible, and the community around it,” she said. “To be able to grow up through the local racing there and then take that all the way into what I’m doing now, which is yeah racing a world cup series in Europe and all over the world actually, and then the Olympics as well.”
For a Park City woman who grew up around winter sports, Batten is thankful for all the summer mountain trails where she fell in love with the sport. She is also thankful for all the support from family and friends, who pushed her to be even better.
“Park City, my home, and all the people that I raced with there and the whole cycling community made this possible today,” Batten said. “So yeah, it’s crazy.”
More: Exclusive news, stories and highlights from the Paris Olympics on KSL TV and KSL Sports.
Contributing: Chandler Holt, KSL Sports; Alex Cabrero and Mark Jones, KSL TV
