Olympic Games Race Report: Australia’s Grace Brown took the first cycling Gold Medal in the women’s Olympic time trial. In a very wet Paris, she beat Britain’s Anna Henderson by 1:31, as America’s Chloe Dygert was second slower in third. The race was badly affected by crashes and a bad road surface in places.
A stunning win by Grace Brown
The Olympic time trial was on a flat, not too technical course of 32.4 kilometres. The start was at Esplanade des Invalides, the finish line was on the Pont Alexandre III. There were two timing points on the course, after 19 kilometres and another 11 kilometres before the finish.
Olympic time trial map
Olympic time trial profile
At 14:30pm Paris time, it was Slovenian Urska Pinter who, in rainy conditions, was the first to start and take the lead, but she wouldn’t be in the final top results. American Taylor Knibb was much faster than Marta Lach and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig at the first timing point. However, Knibb fell three times on the wet road surface. She was not the only one, as Uttrup Ludwig also fell.
A very strong race from New Zealand’s Kim Cadzow
A crash for Kopecky didn’t help
Uttrup Ludwig did have the best time at the finish, but she was soon beaten by Lach. Knibb, who finished a few hundredths of a second behind Lach, was also better. Ellen van Dijk was also faster at the first intermediate point. The Dutch rider was only fifth, 18 seconds behind Knibb’s best time. Lotte Kopecky was a lot better. She was 3 seconds faster than at the first intermediate point.
Not a great day for Demi Vollering
Home rider Juliette Labous, took the lead, but finished fourth
Between the intermediate points, Kopecky crashed. She still recorded the top time at the second intermediate point, although that was short-lived. Van Dijk had already come through earlier, but at this point it was already clear that she would not compete for the medals. At the finish line, she recorded the third best time, where Kim Cadzow was now first. There were many riders were doing better at the intermediate points.
Grace Brown was much faster than everyone else
Grace Brown in particular was flying. The Australian improved Anna Henderson’s time by 51 seconds at the second intermediate point. Henderson in turn had stayed ahead of Juliette Labous, Demi Vollering, Elisa Longo Borghini and Lotte Kopecky, in that order. It was now all down to Chloe Dygert, but the American also crashed just before the second intermediate point. She did record the second best time, but within the same second as Henderson.
Anna Henderson set a very good time for second place
When Kopecky crossed the finish line, she was in the hot seat. She was 11 seconds better than Cadzow. Before she could take her seat, Labous went under her time. Demi Vollering couldn’t match the Frenchwoman, she was 10 seconds slower. Anna Henderson then set the provisional best time, but that was soon blown out of the water by Brown. The Australian was a full minute and a half better than Henderson.
Grace Brown won by over one and a half minutes
There was only Dygart and Christina Schweinberger to come in. Both did not come close to Brown, who won the Gold Medal. The silver went to Henderson, the bronze to Dygert. Behind Labous in fourth, Vollering finished fifth, while Kopecky came sixth.
Last to start and finish – Chloe Dygert (USA) was third
Olympic Time Trial Champion, Grace Brown (Australia): “I had a plan to win the time trial. I executed that plan to perfection. Or even better, so the day couldn’t have gone better! It was raining, but it didn’t affect my morale. I don’t mind rain that much. I know you have to take the corners a bit slower, ride a bit more conservatively. But everyone did that.”
Anna Henderson, Grace Brown and Chloe Dygert
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Olympic Games Women’s Time Trial Result:
1. Grace Brown (Australia) in 39:38
2. Anna Henderson (GB) at 1:31
3. Chloe Dygert (USA) at 1:32
4. Juliette Labous (France) at 1:41
5. Demi Vollering (Netherlands) at 1:51
6. Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) at 1:56
7. Kim Cadzow (New Zealand) at 2:08
8. Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) at 2:11
9. Audrey Cordon-Ragot (France) at 2:13
10. Christina Schweinberger (Austria) at 2:14.
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