French joy as Pauline Ferrand-Prevot solos to Olympic mountain bike gold

ELANCOURT – Pauline Ferrand-Prevot delivered France’s second gold medal of the Paris Olympics as she took a high-quality field apart to win the women’s cross-country mountain bike race on July 28.

The 32-year-old produced a devastating acceleration at the start of the second of seven laps around the dusty 4.4km circuit on Elancourt Hill and rode solo to victory.

Haley Batten of the United States and Jenny Rissveds of Sweden were involved in a fierce scrap for silver, with Batten bursting clear to finish runner-up.

Young Dutchwoman Puck Pieterse was the only rider who looked capable of making it a race and was alone in second place when she suffered a puncture on lap five and needed a wheel change.

Ferrand-Prevot, who will return to road racing after the Olympics, is a five-time cross-country world champion but suffered heartbreak at the last two Games when she was the favourite.

However, in front of thousands of flag-waving French fans in the countryside near Versailles, she reigned supreme.

“I still can’t believe it, I’ve worked so hard for this day that I was like a robot today,” she said. “It’s so huge that I don’t know what to say. In the final lap, it was easier to enjoy it.”

Ferrand-Prevot’s only mistake all day was failing to grab a bottle of water from the feed zone as she started her final circuit, but that made no difference as she avoided any mishaps.

After descending safely through the boulders on the last lap, she could already start celebrating on the final corner, raising her arms as the delirious French crowd acclaimed the champion.

In the women’s individual time trial, Australia’s Grace Brown stormed to her first Olympic gold in 39min 38.24sec.

The 32-year-old finished 1:31.59 ahead of Britain’s Anna Henderson, with world champion Chloe Dygert of the United States snatching third after a nasty fall, less than a second off silver.

“It means so much. Being away from Australia a lot of the year, being away from my family, that’s given me the impetus to work really hard and make it all worth it,” said Brown.

In boxing, Cuba’s twice Olympic champion Julio Cesar la Cruz was eliminated from the men’s heavyweight competition on July 28 following a 3-2 split decision defeat by Loren Alfonso of Azerbaijan.

La Cruz, light heavyweight champion at the 2016 Rio Games and heavyweight champion five years later in Tokyo, was hoping to become only the fourth boxer to win three Olympic gold medals, alongside Teofilo Stevenson, Felix Savon and Laszlo Papp.

Cesar La Cruz’s compatriot Arlen Lopez Cardona, who fights in the light heavyweight class on July 30, can still achieve the feat, having also won gold in Rio and Tokyo.

In an enthralling and even clash, la Cruz and Cuban-born Alfonso traded fearsome blows, before exchanging a hug when Alfonso’s name was called out at the North Paris Arena.

“No, this was just one more fight. I see it as a final because for me, it’s a secret that I fought with the best in the world. And, well, thank God the result was in my favour, but it could have been in his favour as well,” Alfonso said.

Also exiting early was Japan’s Uta Abe, the reigning Olympic champion in the Under-52kg judo competition.

She suffered an upset defeat in the round of 16 on July 28, while her brother Hifumi Abe won the gold medal in the men’s Under-66kg.

Willian Lima of Brazil took the silver, while Gusman Kyrgyzbayev of Kazakhstan and Denis Vieru of Moldova earlier won bronze medals.

The Abe siblings both won gold at their home Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 just 30 minutes apart.

The 24-year-old Uta, who had not lost a fight in an individual competition since 2019, was beaten by Uzbekistan’s Diyora Keldiyorova, twice a world silver medallist.

Meanwhile, South Korean shooter Oh Ye-jin set an Olympic record in the women’s 10m air pistol to win gold on July 28.

Oh scored 243.2 points in the final, improving the Olympic record by 2.9 points. Her teammate Kim Ye-ji, who notched up 241.3 points, also beat the previous record of 240.3 to grab silver. Manu Bhaker from India took the bronze with 221.7 points. REUTERS, AFP, XINHUA