Olympics-Cycling-Australia's Brown finally comes out on top in women's time trial

By Julien Pretot

PARIS (Reuters) -Australian Grace Brown destroyed the field to claim the gold medal in the women's individual time trial, her power and bike handling abilities being unmatched by her rivals as she finally claimed a major title in a crash-riddled event on Saturday.

Several riders slid and fell on wet and cobbled corners on the 32.4-km course, with world champion Chloe Dygert settling for bronze.

Britain's Anna Henderson took second place, one minute 31.59 seconds behind Brown's winning time of 39 minutes 38.24 as the Australian gave her country its first title at the Paris Games.

"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," Brown told reporters.

"Just to make Australia proud, winning the first gold medal for our nation, setting the medal table on its way. I hope I inspire the other athletes to push their limits and go after similar results."

Dygert hit the deck on a corner in the Bois de Vincennes, which effectively ended her chances and cost her second place as she came in 0.87 seconds behind Henderson. Denmark's Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig crashed three times.

Brown, however, had no idea there were many crashes.

"Because it was wet, we had to go a bit slower through the corners and that helped me take some little breaks along the way. I didn't really know that a lot of my competitors were crashing," she said.

"If you're starting and you know that everyone's crashing, then you have a little bit more fear about the race. So it was good that I didn't know."

For Brown, who is set to retire at the end of the year, the result was a mix of sheer joy and relief after she finished twice in second place at the road cycling world championships' time trial in 2022 and 2023.

"To be first at that (first check) point, I felt really strong still and know that I wasn't fading at all, then I was confident that I could take it all the way to the finish. And I did," the 32-year-old said.

There was disappointment for local favourite Juliette Labous, who took fourth place 9.20 seconds behind Dygert.

It looked like Dutchwoman Ellen van Dijk, a three-time time trial world champion, had not fully recovered from a broken ankle in June as she took 11th place.

The event was followed by the men's time trial, raced over the same distance for the first in Olympic history.

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Alison Williams;)