2024 Paris Olympics: Team USA’s Haley Batten wins historic silver medal in cross-country mountain biking

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American mountain biker Haley Batten cruised to a historic silver medal on Sunday. Batten overcame a flat tire to earn second place in the women’s cross-country race with a time of 1:28:59. It was the first silver medal in U.S. history in the event.

Batten’s bike got a flat in the fourth lap of the seven-lap race, but she powered from a fifth-place position to the silver. The 25-year-old American pulled away in the final lap over Sweden’s Jenny Rissveds of Sweden, who took the bronze with a time of 1:29:04. Pauline Ferrand-Prevot of France won gold with a commanding time of 1:26:02, much to the home crowd’s delight.

Batten becomes just the third U.S. woman to medal in mountain biking, following in the footsteps of Susan DeMattei, who earned bronze in at the sport’s debut in 1996 in Atlanta, and Georgia Gould, who took bronze in 2012.

The Park City, Utah, native won her first junior championship in 2015 and turned professional at age 17. Batten competed in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, finishing ninth in the cross-country competition.