After two second places at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships, Australian Grace Brown now celebrates her greatest success in the time trial. With an outstanding lead of 1:31 minutes over Anna Henderson (Great Britain), she takes the Olympic gold medal. Third place and bronze went to Chloe Dygert from the USA, who missed out on silver by just one second. After numerous strong time trials, Grace Brown crowned herself with Olympic victory and celebrated one of the greatest successes of her career. As the Australian will end her career at the end of the season, the gold medal is the crowning glory of her career.
Brown the fastest on wet roads
In rainy Paris, the riders had to use a clean technique from the start and weigh up their speed and risks. Numerous riders crashed on the wet Parisian tarmac - including favourite Chloe Dygert, who slipped on a left-hand bend. Her compatriot Taylor Knibb had a pitch-black day and crashed three times. Grace Brown coped particularly well with the circumstances. The Australian looked confident in the bends and steered her way to the finish without crashing. The lead of over a minute and a half is a real demonstration of power from the rider, who has consistently performed at world-class level over the years.
German riders have no chance
Mieke Kröger and Antonia Niedermaier competed for Germany in the time trial. Although Kröger was the early starter and took the interim lead at the finish, she was quickly ousted from the hot seat. In the end, the Olympic track cycling champion finished in 13th place. Antonia Niedermaier rode at a constant speed, but was unable to keep up with the top riders. The young woman from Rosenheim finished in 15th place.
Olympia 2024: Results - the top 10 of the women's individual time trial
- Grace Brown (Australia) 39:38
- Anna Henderson (Great Britain) +1:31
- Chloe Dygert (USA) +1:32
- Juliette Labous (France) +1:41
- Demi Vollering (Netherlands) +1:51
- Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) +1:56
- Kim Cadzow (New Zealand) +2:07
- Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) +2:11
- Audrey Cordon-Ragot (France) +2:13
- Chrstina Schweinberger (Austria) +2:13
How the women's Olympic time trial went
Urska Pintar was the rider who opened the women's Olympic individual time trial. With a time of 45:07 minutes, the Slovenian set the first standard time. Shortly after her, the US-American Taylor Knibb started, who got off to a furious start, but shortly afterwards became the unlucky one of the race. She crashed a total of three times and had to change her race bike once.
Lotte Kopecky was then the rider who beat Knibb's initial time in the first intermediate time. However, she also crashed a short time later and then had to bow out of the battle for the medals. Juliette Labous fared better, cutting a fine figure in the second part of the race in particular and taking the interim lead at the finish. But the Frenchwoman had to tremble for a medal - the extremely strong Anna Henderson, Chloe Dygert and Grace Brown were still on the course in Paris.
The three riders were listed at the end of the start list and clearly undercut all their previous performances. Grace Brown in particular was very dominant. She was five seconds ahead of Dygert at the first intermediate time, then she fired the turbo: in the end she had a lead of over a minute and a half over Henderson, who moved up to silver medal position due to a Dygert crash. While Dygert finished third, local heroine Labous had to settle for fourth place. The celebrated woman of the day was Grace Brown, who dominated the Olympic time trial in Paris at will with a time of 39:38.
