dpa
Paris
Grace Brown destroyed the opposition to give Australia a first women’s Olympic road time trial gold medal in cycling in a crash-marred competition on a wet Saturday in Paris.
Brown led at all the splits and stayed on her bike over the 32.4 kilometres course for an overwhelming victory in 39 minutes 38.24 seconds.
Britain’s Anna Henderson bagged silver more than a minute and a half back, and reigning world champion Chloe Dygart of the US earned bronze despite falling in a slippery turn.
Brown was a runner-up at the last two worlds in 2022 and 2023 and gold came three years after narrowly missing bronze at the Tokyo Games. She won the women’s Tour Down Under last year and Liege-Bastogne-Liege this year.
The race saw crashes, with American Taylor Knibb even off her bike three times in the difficult conditions to finish 19th.
The men’s race on the same downtown course from Les Invalides to Alexandre III bridge was scheduled for later Saturday.
