Utah Native Haley Batten Makes History For Team USA With Silver Medal Win

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.

Batten’s race

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.

Team USA’s Haley Batten wasn’t expected to contend in women’s mountain biking. She took home the silver medal 🥈

This is why we watch ❤️ pic.twitter.com/4aKtB7ywg5

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) July 28, 2024

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.

Reliving the past

On this very course a year ago, Batten crashed, leading to a concussion that kept her from competing at the World Championships, which are an important qualifier to the Olympics.

However, she ended up with enough World Cup points to make the Olympics, and she certainly made the most of it, winning silver in a race that has been on her mind for years.

“I visualized so much and I knew I could be on the podium today,” Batten said. “So yeah, this is pretty crazy.”

Haley Batten wins silver at Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Team USA’s best ever Olympic Mountain Bike finish!

Read More: https://t.co/h7Y6lMQ60j pic.twitter.com/gpCLET0Rkg

— USA Cycling (@usacycling) July 28, 2024

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.”

From Utah to the world

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.”

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.

Batten was a frontrunner for the sport after she took 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.

Contributing: Chandler Holt, KSL Sports and Alex Cabrero, KSL TV

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