When Park City native Haley Batten approached the finish line in Paris, a large smile stretched across her face.
She knew she was about to win silver in cross country mountain biking — the highest finish ever for a U.S. mountain biker at the Olympics — and the moment did not disappoint.
“We train for years for that moment, that five-second experience at the finish line, and that was amazing,” she told the Deseret News.
But her historic race wasn’t without challenges.
Haley Batten overcame adversity at the Olympics
Batten entered the race confident that her preparation was enough to earn a medal, but after a rough start, she thought her medal chances had slipped out of reach.
“I think I was just so excited and relieved, in a way, because of the way the race played out. I didn’t have the best start, and then I got a flat tire,” she said. “I was really proud to overcome all that.”
She credits the mental preparation and training she had put in prior to the Olympics for helping her handle the early adversity she experienced in the race.
“You need your instincts to be the right instinct, and no doubt those thoughts came through my head, like, ‘What have you done? How did you make that mistake?’ But I think it’s OK for those thoughts to come in, but they have to leave quickly, right? You have to have a clear mind. You have to focus on the task at hand, the moment, the present, like what I can do right now. Those thoughts cleared, they pass and they fueled me. Let me tell you, all of that excitement turned into adrenaline, and it fueled me for sure,” she said.
Batten believes that overcoming adversity is what separates a good athlete from the best and that “magic” doesn’t happen on the easy path.
“I really, really believe that the hardest challenges are what make us great, and I think if we don’t embrace those challenges and we just settle for taking the easy path, I think we’re OK. I really think that if you embrace a challenge, that’s what makes you special. I can for sure look at the whole start line of our cross country women’s field and know that all of those women have been through something really, really, really hard, and that’s why they’re there, and that’s why they’re winning races and going for podiums because it wasn’t easy. If it was, they wouldn’t be there,” she said.
U.S. women are dominating the Paris Olympics
Batten is part of the surge of women leading the charge for medals for Team USA in Paris.
As of Wednesday, Aug. 7, over half of the U.S.’s 94 medals had been won by women, excluding any won by mixed relay teams.
Hearing that American women have been dominating at the Olympics excites Batten.
“I think it highlights just how females can be celebrated in sport,” she told the Deseret News. “I think we’re just gonna have a whole charge of young U.S. athletes — women — coming forward and preparing for the Olympics ahead.”
The cyclist said it’s a beautiful thing not just in terms of the medal counts but for the growing opportunities for women in sports.
She hopes her silver medal finish can pique the interest of more women and get them involved in the sport of mountain biking, especially young aspiring female cyclists.
“I hope this medal highlights that the pathway’s there, that there are opportunities and that it’s a beautiful sport to be part of, and I’m excited to see all the young women that can surpass what I’ve accomplished so far,” she said.
What’s next for Haley Batten?
Batten is proud of her silver medal, and she doesn’t view it as losing out on the gold. But she’s not satisfied.
“I went into that race preparing to be Olympic champion. That’s what I want. I want to win gold medals. I want to be the best in the world, not one of the best,” she said.
She and her coach have already started working on their roadmap to winning gold at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics with the first stop being the World Championships in a few weeks.
“The execution I’m super satisfied with, but 100% I made mistakes. I had a bad start. I got a flat tire. I made a mistake in the feed zone,” she said. “There’s room to improve, and there’s room to grow. In LA, I’m definitely going for gold, and I want to be able to learn from every race.”