Park City's Haley Batten captures 1st US silver medal in Olympic mountain biking

SALT LAKE CITY — The United States' best finish in Olympic mountain biking belongs to a Utah native who credited the state's robust prep mountain bike scene for her climb in the sport.

Haley Batten finished the seven-lap, 30.8-kilometer course set at an old quarry site in Elancourt, France, in 1:28.59 for a silver medal in women's cross country mountain biking — the best-ever finish by a Team USA cycling since the sport was first introduced to the Olympic program in 1996.

From a city and state known for its winter sports, including Team USA headquarters in skiing, snowboarding and luge, it may be time to make room for a Summer Olympic medal from a native Utahn whose thoughts raced to growing up the mountains of Summit County where it all began.

The native of Park City finished 2:57 behind France's Pauline Ferrand Prevot, who finish in 1:26.02 to claim gold in front of an endearing home crowd, while Sweden's Jenny Rissveds claimed bronze in 1:29.04.

"Park City is my home, and all the people that I raced with there, the whole cycling community, made this possible today," an emotional Batten told KSL-TV with a wide smile after the race. "It's crazy.

"I visualized it so much," she added, "and I knew I could be on the podium today."

Batten suffered a flat on the fourth of seven laps that caused her to fall to eighth before mounting a wild comeback. Netherlands rider Puck Pieterse was riding in second when a punctured tire late took her out of medal contention, and Loana Lecomete — another of the French favorites — crashed hard over her handlebars and was unable to finish after nearing a third-place finish.

It's the first medal of Batten's Olympic career in her second appearance after finishing ninth in Tokyo in 2021, and will come with a fine of 400 Swiss francs (roughly $565) by the Olympic mountain bike judges for "failure to respect the instructions of the race organization or commissaires," according to the Associated Press.

Batten was jockeying for second place with Sweden's Rissveds — well behind eventual champion Ferrand-Prevot — when she went through a lane designed for taking food and drink or stopping for mechanical problems. After reviewing video footage, the judges ruled Batten had done neither and broke one of the rules of the race.

It didn't seem to matter to Batten, who will taken the fine — and the medal — in the race she has been focusing on a top-10 finish in Japan.

"I knew before Tokyo that this was the race I was focusing on," she said, per the AP. "I've known for a long time that I could be good here and Tokyo was — I wanted to be on the podium there, but I wasn't quite ready to be honest. I prepared much better to be the best I've ever been. For me, preparation has been in the details, studying and building every single year."

Standing on the podium seemed unlikely early in the race for Batten, who moved up from 12th place after the first lap to fourth after her third before being forced to stop for a flat tire midway through the seven-lap race.

"I knew I needed to have a good start here," Batten said, "and I didn't. I had a really bad start."

The 25-year-old who took up the sport at age 9 became the youngest member of Team USA's mountain biking coalition when she qualified for the Tokyo Games three years ago. This came after she won her first national title at just 14 years old and turned pro at 17 with Clif Pro Team.

She currently competes with Specialized Racing, where she's been since 2021, and is coached by three-time Olympic gold medalist Kristin Armstrong. But before that, she was a standout in Utah's fast-rising high school league that has grown to more than 7,000 athletes since its inception in 2011.

"It grew so rapidly, and I think the infrastructure for riding is so incredible, and the community around it," Batten told KSL TV before the Summer Games. "To be able to grow up through local racing there and then take that into what I do now, which is racing the World Cup series in Europe and all over the world, the Olympics, is great."

Despite being invented in the United States, mountain biking had produced just two Olympic medals for Team USA prior to Sunday. Susan DeMattei won bronze in Atlanta in 1996, when the sport made its debut, and Georgia Gould added bronze in London in 2012.

Batten was viewed as one of the American's best opportunities at a medal in the event that feature 36 women cyclists in Paris, after making the podium three times in World Cup competitions this past season.

She'll now be an even bigger favorite as the Olympics move to home soil in Los Angeles in 2028.

"I had a media question earlier, as well, and I said, 'Yeah, it was amazing to see Pauline here ... and the next one's mine,'" Batten said after the race, a smile beaming from ear to ear. "I think as athletes, we're always thinking in the future and preparing for big goals. But I'm in the moment right now. I've prepared for a long time for this one, and I'm going to enjoy it. But to have the Olympics in your home country is absolutely incredible, and I think it's an even bigger goal."

Contributing: Alex Cabrero, KSL-TV; Associated Press

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