Meet the bikers in red, white and blue
Tokyo 2020 Olympian Haley Batten found her form at the perfect time. After placing ninth in her Olympic debut in Tokyo, Batten went on to win bronze at the 2022 World Championships and has only gone up from there. The 25-year-old from Park City, Utah, has been on fire all year, reaching five podium finishes and bringing home two gold medals from the 2024 Pan American Mountain Bike Championships. The newly-crowned Pan American champion enters her second Olympics as the number-one ranked rider and top contender.
“My Olympic pursuit has been an amazing journey. Through injury, personal growth, and relentless hard work, I am proud to earn my spot to represent Team USA in Paris. Throughout my youth, I have dreamed of becoming an Olympic athlete and to earn a medal for the USA. I am honored to have this opportunity, and I am fully focused on preparing at my best,” Batten told USA Cycling.
Haley Batten has her sights set on Paris 2024
Trailing closely behind in the World Cup XCO number three spot is 24-year-old Savilia Blunk of Colorado, who will join Batten in Paris after clinching the first senior elite World Cup podiums of her career this year. The multiple-time US National Champion has dreamt of this moment since she was 15, and is ready to make waves on the Olympic stage.
Blunk shared: “When I was 15, this dream felt almost inconceivable. I knew it would take a lot of hard work, but what was even harder to find in the process was team support, resources, and funding to get myself to the biggest stage. Now looking back, I realize this WAS the path all along – never giving up on my dreams. I’m so proud to have reached this moment and am super excited to represent the USA in Paris!”
Leading the charge for the men is Christopher Blevins, the first American man to win a senior elite World Cup since 1994. Blevins won this season’s first World Cup in April and is currently ranked second in the cross-country Olympic standings. He will certainly be looking to improve on his last Olympic performance in Tokyo, where he placed 14th.
“I was proud to make it to Tokyo in 2021, and maybe even more so to make my second Olympic games, with the opportunity to give it everything for a medal on July 29th in Paris. The sport of Mountain Biking is growing at an exciting rate in the States, and I know this Games will be another step in that direction,” Blevins stated.
The last men’s spot went to the team’s youngest member, 22-year-old Riley Amos, who has had a perfect season so far in 2024, sweeping all three under-23 World Cup races this year, making it six-for-six wins. Amos also took double gold at the 2024 Pan American Games elite short track and the U23 XCO.
“I really don’t think it has sunk in yet that I will be representing my country in Paris this summer. I think when I get to feel that atmosphere and really experience it all for the first time it’s all going to sink in. I’m proud to continue the legacy of Mountain Bike Olympians from Durango, Colorado, as I would not be who I am without my special little community at home.”
Both men hail from Durango, Colorado, carrying on the town’s iconic Olympic mountain biking legacy.