Haley Batten placed ninth in the women’s mountain bike event three years ago at the Tokyo Olympics.
One would figure that’s already quite the accomplishment itself just being able to get to that point. Instead, she departed the “Land of the Rising Sun” feeling as if there was still some unfinished business.
“You watch the riders on the podium, and it fuels you to a different level,” she said. “I was so proud of the top 10 [finish], but I wanted more. I was hungry, and it’s definitely fueled me for the past three years.”
The 25-year-old Santa Cruz resident redeemed herself on July 28 by becoming the first American to capture a silver medal in the Cycling Mountain Bike Women’s Cross-country event at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Batten took second in the 30.8 kilometer race in 1 hour, 28 minutes, 59 seconds at Élancourt Hill outdoor off-road course, finishing slightly ahead of Jenny Rissveds of Sweden (1:29:04). Pauline Ferrand-Prevot of France won the race on her home turf in 1:26:02.
It was the best finish by an American since Susan DeMattei and Georgia Gould each won a bronze medal in 1996 and 2012, respectively.
“I wanted to win, you always prepare for a gold medal,” Batten said. “In many ways, the way that race played out, for sure I felt like I won silver. … It means a lot for me, for my family, [and] for my team. But I think it means a lot for our country and how we’re stepping up as a nation in cycling, where we’ve really been underdogs for a really long time.”
Batten did not have the start that she wanted. She found herself in the back of the pack but it didn’t take long before she caught up to the chase group. She recalled there were three or four, maybe up to five cyclists fighting for position.
That’s when Batten made her move to third place. She was catching some speed on a descent when all of a sudden she was going too fast through a rock garden, puncturing one of the tires.
“A lot of thoughts ran through my head at that moment,” she said. “You can’t prepare for a perfect race. A perfect race never happens and I know how to overcome it as an athlete. That clicked my brain and mindset into a whole new level.”
Luckily she was nearby a U.S. mechanics team that rapidly changed the tire. Batten then turned into a character in Mario Kart who received the magical star, storming back for second place.
“I jumped back on my bike and I really had nothing to lose now,” she said. “It was all or nothing, so I just went as hard as I could for the rest of the race. It was a battle all the way to the end but it was just the most exciting race in my life.”
Apart from the flat tire, Batten was fined 500 Swiss francs, or about $565, by the Olympic mountain bike judges for breaking a rule on the seventh and final lap of her race on Sunday.
The broken rule was “failure to respect the instructions of the race organization or commissaires.” Batten went through a lane dedicated for taking on food and drink or stopping for mechanical problems. She did neither one.
“I’m just going as hard as I can. So, I just rode through, and didn’t grab a bottle. My physio was already at the finish line. I’m just racing my guts out, and mistakes like that happen.”
However, it wasn’t a smooth ride getting to the top of the silver mountain.
In 2023, Batten was forced to miss the national championships and UCI Cycling World Championships in Scotland due to a concussion she suffered after flying over the handlebars during a training run.
She also had a minor Achilles injury during the World Cup short-track event at Crans-Montana in the Swiss Alps in April.
“I think the concussion, in a way, was a sign that it’s time to slow down. Your body needs to stop, and you need to take a break,” Batten said.
The journey began at the age of 9 when Batten and her younger brother, Nash, joined their dad, Patrick, to compete in local mountain bike races in Park City, Utah.
It was during the 2012 London Games when she realized it was an Olympic sport. The thought of becoming a professional cross-country racer came about three years later and Batten earned her first national title at 14 years old.
“I’m honestly so impressed with little Haley, she was a beast,” Batten said. “She worked really hard, had big dreams, and always believed in herself. She was bad ass.”
Batten went on to achieve three national titles as a junior and another in U23. She also won a U23 world cup and was part of the U.S. team relay at world championships where they earned a silver medal.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have her as my role model for my entire life,” Nash Batten, 23, said in a story published by the Associated Press. “Now, she gets to be the role model for millions more. It’s a real honor.”
Batten moved with her family to Los Gatos in 2018 before calling Santa Cruz home just two years later. She mentioned how much the community has rallied around her during her professional career.
On top of her Olympic silver medal, Batten won this year’s world cup race in Araxá, Brazil, and is far from being done. She will compete in the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Andorra on Aug. 28-Sept. 1, and in both world cups in Lake Placid, N.Y., and Monte-Sainte-Anne in Quebec.
“I’m really excited to finish off this year in the U.S. and in North America,” she said.
