Paris 2024: Grace Brown races time trial title on slippery track, no medals for Vollering and Van Dijk

Grace Brown won the women’s Olympic time trial. In rainy Paris she was by far the fastest in a crash-plagued chrono. Demi Vollering was fifth, and Ellen van Dijk didn’t come close to a medal in 11th.

The Olympic time trial took place over a flat and very non-technical 32.4km course. The start was at the Esplanade des Invalides, and the times were stopped at Pont Alexandre III. There were two time trials along the route, at about 19km and about 11km from the finish.

Neb falls three times (!) with a medium interval from Van Dijk
At 2.30 p.m., Slovenian Urska Painter started the event under wet conditions. She would not play a significant role, unlike American Taylor Knipp. In the first intermediate point she was much faster than Marta Lasch and Cecilie Utrup-Ludwig. Shortly afterwards, Knipp crashed three times (!) on the wet track surface. And she was not the only one to fall, because Utrup-Ludwig also fell.

Uttrup Ludwig posted the best time at the end, but was soon overtaken by Lach. Knibb, who finished a few hundredths of a second behind Lach, did even better. Meanwhile, Ellen van Dijk was also on her way and passed the first waypoint. The Dutch finished fifth there, eighteen seconds off Knibb’s best time. Lotte Kopecky did much better. She knocked Knibb off the table at the first intermediate point by three seconds.

Van Dijk’s miracle didn’t happen – Photo: Cor Vos

Kopecky also fell, which impressed Brown.
However, Kopecky fell between the first and second intermediate points. However, she did record the first time at the second intermediate point, although it would be short-lived. Van Dijk had already passed here earlier, but at this point it was already clear that he would not be competing for medals. She still recorded the third fastest time at the end, with Kim Kadzov now in first place. However, the New Zealander already knew that many riders performed better at the intermediate points.

Grace Brown in particular was brilliant all the way. The Australian improved Anna Henderson’s time by no less than 51 seconds at the second intermediate point. Henderson was in turn ahead of Juliette Labos, Demi Fullering, Elisa Longo Borghini and Lotte Kopecky – in that order. It looked like it should have come from Chloe Dygert, but the American also crashed before the second intermediate point. She still clocked second, but it was within a second of Henderson.

Gold for brown
When Kopecky crossed the line, she was allowed to sit in the seat. hot seat. She was eleven seconds better than Cadzow. However, before she could settle in, Labus lost her time. Fullering couldn’t keep up with the Frenchwoman – she was ten seconds shorter – unlike Henderson. The Briton had set the best time so far, but Brown quickly crushed that. The Australian was at least a minute and a half better than Henderson.

After that, it was just Dygert and Christina Schweinberger who had to enter. Neither came close to Brown, who won the gold. Silver went to Henderson and bronze to Dygert. Behind Labos, Fullering was fifth, while Kopecky was sixth. Van Dijk fell outside the top 10. She finished 2 minutes and 43 seconds behind Brown in 11th.