Dygert, McNulty lead US cost for Olympic gold medal in time trial

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PARIS (Velo) — Chloé Dygert and Brandon McNulty open America’s gold medal quest this weekend with a bang within the Olympic Video games with the person time trial.

Proper behind them are Taylor Knibb and Magnus Sheffield to present Group USA its greatest likelihood to earn a medal in highway racing throughout the 2024 Paris Olympic Video games.

All 4 are able to medaling, and with comparatively wide-open fields in each races, something may occur.

Olympic time trials
Date: Saturday, July 27
Distance: 32.4km
Elevation achieve: 150m
Ladies’s time trial: 2:30 p.m. (CET), 8:30 a.m. (East Coast USA)
Males’s time trial: 4:30 p.m. (CET), 10:30 a.m. (East Coast USA)

McNulty, 26, and Dygert, 27, are again for the their second crack at a medal within the Olympic time trial, whereas Sheffield, 22, and Knibb, 26, are racing for the Olympic TT for first time.

Gauging the USA medal hopes

Dygert is a two-time world TT champion and Knibb, who gained a silver medal in combined relay triathlon in Tokyo 2021, was a shock winner of U.S. nationals in Might.

Dygert, who can also be racing the highway race and monitor later on this Olympic Video games, can be considerably of an enigma. She’s solely raced three days in highway racing this season, and hasn’t raced a time trial since she gained her second world title in August final yr.

Again for her third Olympics, she battled again from a brutal, career-threatening damage in 2020 in a high-speed crash whereas defending her world title that left a horrible gash simply above her left knee.

After acting at less-than-ideal circumstances in Tokyo 2021, different accidents and sicknesses, together with two surgical procedures to take away scar tissue, an Epstein-Barr an infection, and coronary heart ablation surgical procedure for irregular heartbeat, have all held her again over the previous few seasons.

A two-time Olympic medalist in monitor racing in group pursuit, if she’s in full flight on the roads of Paris, a medal is inside attain.

Knibb can even be an unknown, however doubtlessly shocking issue. Knowledgeable triathlete, has solely raced in two UCI-ranked highway races in her profession.

The primary got here within the 2023 U.S. nationwide time trial championships, when she simply missed a medal with fourth. This spring, she surprised the favorites to say the nationwide jersey and the automated Olympic spot that got here with it.

Knibb, who joined the Lidl-Trek group this summer time, later forfeited her spot within the girls’s highway race, permitting medal-favorite Kristen Faulkner to race as a substitute. She can even compete in triathlon.

Knibb has persistently carried out nicely in time trial legs in triathlon, together with victories in two Ironman 70.3 world titles, so something’s doable in Paris.

On the boys’s aspect, McNulty and Sheffield will lead the rostrum hopes.

McNulty was twenty fourth in Tokyo towards the clock, however with the time trial coming first forward of the highway race in Paris, all eyes can be on the U.S. nationwide TT champion to have a run for a medal.

Alongside along with his nationwide title in Might, the Arizonan’s gained two professional ITTs throughout this season, on the UAE Tour and the Tour de Romandie, respectively. He’s been getting ready solely for the Olympic Video games after not racing both the Giro d’Italia or Tour de France this season with UAE Group Emirates, and is predicted to have contemporary and impressive legs.

Group USA is able to experience for glory on the @Olympics!

Street

➡️ Magnus Sheffield
➡️ Matteo Jorgenson
➡️ Brandon McNulty
➡️ Chloé Dygert
➡️ Taylor Knibb

Monitor:

➡️ Grant Koontz
➡️ Olivia Cummins
➡️ Chloé Dygert
➡️ Kristen Faulkner
➡️ Jennifer Valente
➡️ Lily Williams… pic.twitter.com/3rQjuyRikW

— UCI (@UCI_cycling) July 9, 2024

Sheffield is equally constant in “the race of reality,” and after racing the Giro, has been getting ready virtually solely for Saturday’s time trial race.

Sheffield hit three TT podiums this season racing in Europe, with second to gold medal favourite Remco Evenepoel in Algarve in February, second to McNulty on the Tour de Romandie, and third on the Giro behind Tadej Pogačar, who’s not racing the Olympics, and Filippo Ganna.

A top-5 is practical for any of the 4 U.S. riders, and if any are on a spectacular day, they might hit the rostrum for a medal.

American Olympic TT pedigree

American riders have an extended pedigree within the TT since execs have been allowed to compete within the Olympic Video games beginning in 1996.

That yr in Atlanta, Linda Brenneman was eleventh and Jeanne Golay was sixteenth, whereas Lance Armstrong was sixth.

Issues picked up from there.

Mari Holden gained silver in 2000 and so did Dede Demet-Barry in 2004. Kristen Armstrong gained a document three consecutive golds in 2008, 2012 and 2016 to place a stamp on time trial dominance.

Different top-10s embrace Christine Thornburn with fourth in 2004 and fifth in 2008,  and Amben Neben seventh in 2012 and fifth in 2021. Evelyn Stephens in tenth in 2016, and Dygert seventh in Tokyo 2021.

Bonjour de Paris #teamUSA pic.twitter.com/KqJh5PFBu9

— Magnus Sheffield (@MagnusSheffield) July 24, 2024

The very best American leads to the Olympic males’s particular person time trial since 1996 when execs began to compete embrace Taylor Phinney in fourth in London 2012, Levi Leipheimer with bronze in Beijing 2008, and Bobby Julich in silver in Athens 2002. Tyler Hamilton was disqualified for gold in 2002, and Armstrong noticed a bronze medal stripped in 2000.

Can one in all these 4 starters in Paris add their names to the Olympic Video games palmarès? Keep tuned, the percentages are excellent.