On Sunday, Haley Batten (Park City, Utah; Trinity Racing) qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Mountain Bike Team after finishing second in the UCI XCO World Cup in Nové Město na Moravě.
The 22-year-old moved up to the Elite Women’s category a year early and has quickly showed the world what she’s capable of. Batten finished third at the Albstadt XCO World Cup, then went on to win Friday’s XCC in Nové Město. In Sunday’s XCO World Cup, Batten rode to a silver medal, 1 minute and 29 seconds behind race winner and U23 World Champion Loana Lecomte (France). Erin Huck (Estes Park, Colo.; Scott/ Stages) was the next best American finishing in 16th.
Batten automatically qualified for the Olympic Team after being the only U.S. rider to finish in the Top-8 at the Nové Město XCO World Cup. Batten marks one of the youngest riders to make the U.S. Olympic Mountain Bike Team. She joins Kate Courtney (Kentfield, Calif.; SCOTT-SRAM Factory Racing) as one of the two women to automatically qualify for the mountain bike team headed to Tokyo. That leaves one more starting position for the USA which will be determined by the discretionary selection criteria.
The U.S. men have earned a single starting position leaving the discretionary selection between Christopher Blevins (Durango, Colo.; Trinity Racing) and Keegan Swenson (Park City, Utah). The final Olympic Team will be announced by USA Cycling on June 10, 2021.
To learn more about how Olympic qualification and selection works, click here.
