Grace Brown etches her name in history with Olympic gold

Australian cyclist Grace Brown has won a career-defining gold medal in the Olympic Games Individual Time Trial.

On a rainy Saturday afternoon in Paris, Brown clocked a time of 39:38.24 along the 32.4-kilometre course (49.05kph), beating her nearest rival by one-and-a-half minutes to claim Australia's first medal of the Paris Games. It's also Australia's first Olympic medal in the women's time trial, and first gold in either the men's or women's.

After openly stating that her goal was "to win", Brown was among the top favourites alongside current and former world champions Chloe Dygert (USA) and Ellen van Dijk (NED). Although she had never beaten both rivals in the same race, the Aussie had an uninterrupted preparation, whereas both Dygert and van Dijk were in their first race since returning from injury.

The 32-year-old from Camperdown was second-last to start. She stuttered down the ramp in Invalides – seemingly stuck in a heavy gear – but was soon able to find her pace on the flat, fast course east of Paris.

While the urban route would not normally be considered technical, the wet conditions made the corners downright treacherous. Lotte Kopecky (BEL), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (DEN) and Taylor Knibb (USA) all fell victim, the latter crashing three times.

New Zealand's Kim Cadzow set the fastest time of the earlier runners, establishing a benchmark of 41 minutes 46 seconds.

At the first time check, Brown set the best time, leading by five seconds on Dygert. Van Dijk was surprisingly well-down in 13th position, some 50 seconds slower than the Aussie. The Dutchwoman was not able to trouble the leaders and eventually finished out of medal contention.

After safely navigating the slippery corners in the middle sector, Brown obliterated the second time check, clocking in 51 seconds ahead of then-leader Anna Henderson (GBR). Brown's gold medal hopes lifted a serious notch when behind, Dygert crashed on a corner and was also 51 seconds down at the intermediate check.

From there, as long as Grace Brown stayed upright, the gold medal was all but assured.

When the Australian crossed the finish line on the Alexandre III Bridge, she was the only rider to stop the clock under 40 minutes, sealing a triumphant gold medal for Australia.

She finished 91 seconds ahead of Henderson and 92 in front of Dygert: a dominant result.

"I had a plan to pace the race to win gold and I was able to execute the plan pretty much to perfection, if not better. I can’t ask for a better day, really," Brown said in an interview on Channel Nine.

"Rain doesn’t bother me too much. I know that you have to take the corners a little bit slower, be a little bit more conservative. But I know everyone was doing that. As long as you trust your equipment, then it’s fine. Towards the end I wasn’t taking any risk in those corners when I knew I was ahead."

The result adds to an already-excellent year for the FDJ-SUEZ rider, who won Liege-Bastogne-Liege in April. The Olympic Games had been one of her key targets, and she duly delivered.

"The team behind this is huge," Brown said. "Obviously, my family, my husband supporting me, my friends giving me a lot of belief. My coach has worked in such detail in preparing me for this.

"My team has supplied me with all the equipment. Mechanics doing extra research to get everything dialled, going over the course, just looking after my every need. There’s a lot of people out there, I can’t name them all, but there’s been a mountain of work behind this gold medal."

After missing out on the podium at Tokyo 2020 by just 7 seconds, Brown will be able to retire at the end of this season as an Olympic medallist.

Whatever happens between now and then, she will surely leave a legacy as Australia's best-ever female rider against the clock: as well as being a four-time national champion, Brown has won Commonwealth Games gold and been runner-up twice at the World Championships.

Brown said she's not tempted to review her decision to retire.

"It makes me really proud of everything that I’ve done," she said about today's victory. "I know that I’ve come here and given it everything and it’s paid off, and I can finish my career really satisfied."

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Photos: Getty Images