Meet Haley Batten, the American athlete who won USA's first-ever silver medal in mountain bike at Paris Olympics 2024

Haley Batten is a mountain biker, who recently hogged the spotlight after winning the silver medal for the United States at the Paris Olympics 2024. She delivered a phenomenal performance in the women's cross-country cycling mountain bike event, finishing with a time of 1:28:59.

Batten narrowly edged out the 2016 Olympic gold medalist Jenny Rissveds from Sweden, who crossed the finish line in a time of 1:29:04. The event featured a fierce competition for the second position, with Batten and Rissveds continually exchanging places. However, Batten powered through to clinch the silver medal. Host nation’s Pauline Ferrand-Prévot earned a dominant victory, finishing with 1:26:02.

With that, Batten won the United States’ sixth Olympic medal at the quadrennial Games and the second medal for the nation in Cycling sport since Chloé Dygert’s bronze medal victory in the women's road time trial on Saturday, July 27. This was also the best-ever placement for a U.S. athlete in the mountain bike discipline.

As Batten delivered a stellar performance in the 2024 Paris Olympics, let’s know more about the mountain bike rider.

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Haley Batten’s family, hometown and education

Batten was born on September 19, 1998, in Park City, Utah. Her mother’s name is Cathy Batten. She attended Quest University Canada where she studied Liberal Arts and Sciences.

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When did Haley Batten take up the sport?

Batten began cycling at the age of nine and went on to win her first national title when she was 14 years old.

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Haley Batten’s other top accomplishments

Haley Batten at UCI Mountain Bike World Cup 2021. (Photo by Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images)

Batten collected a bronze medal at the 2022 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in the women’s cross-country, finishing with a time of 1:24:21. In 2024, she showed her brilliance by achieving multiple podium finishes during the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup series.

She was also a member of the USA’s team relay that won the silver medal at the 2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, along with Christopher Blevins, Riley Amos, Kate Courtney, and Keegan Swenson.

The 25-year-old went on to represent the USA at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where she placed ninth in the finals of the women's cross-country cycling mountain bike with a time of 1:20:13.

A look into Haley Batten’s professional teams

Batten currently represents the Specialized Factory Racing as a professional mountain bike rider, competing for them in various global competitions. She also represented Trinity Racing between 2019 to 2021 and Clif Pro Team from 2016 to 2019.