Anna Henderson powered to a stunning silver in a Parisian deluge just two months after she feared her Olympic dreams may be over.
The 25-year-old broke her collarbone for the second time this year in May but battled back to full fitness in time to take on the women’s road race.
Several riders suffered falls as rain swept across the French capital, but former skier Henderson was able to stay on-piste and crossed Pont Alexandre III in 41:09.83, enough to edge out Chloe Dygert – who was among those to come off her bike – for silver by less than a second.
“Last year, I was two seconds from the bronze at Worlds, so I’m really happy to be on the right side of the seconds this time,” she said. “I’m really proud.
“The second one (injury) mentally hurt a lot, and it really took a lot to get back and get the motivation again. But I always had Paris on my mind and that really carried me through, and I can’t stop mentioning the people around me who got me through.
“It (missing the Olympics ) did cross my mind; it was a really low point of my season, but I bounced back quickly. I won at the nationals, had a really good ride at the Tour of Britain and had a really good run into this.
“I’m really happy with my form and really happy with my ride.”
Australia’s Grace Brown claimed gold on a brutal afternoon across the 32.6km route. American Taylor Knibb crashed three times – one of which was followed by her mechanic also taking a tumble while coming to her aid – and her compatriot Dygert also took a heavy fall.
Dygert was left limping at the finish line having recovered to finish the race, giving Henderson – who stayed on two wheels throughout to stay in contention – a nervy wait to discover what colour her medal would be.
“It was a bit confusing because the TV was really far behind and then I couldn’t see the board,” she said.
“I knew I had a medal, which was an amazing thing in itself, then it was whether it was silver or bronze. To have the silver is even better.”
Henderson’s medal is Team GB’s second of Paris 2024 and the Hemel Hempstead star admitted she had surprised herself with her performance.
She has set her sights on a pastry from a traditional French patisserie as her reward and plans to celebrate with those who helped her come out the other side of the dark days earlier this year.
“There has been blood, sweat and tears,” added Henderson, who is supported by Aldi’s Nearest & Dearest programme. “I’m really thankful to everyone around me that got me here and everyone that got me through.
“I’ve got the whole crew here and I’m so happy they could come. I’m really pleased they are here.”
There were very different emotions in the men’s time trial, as Great Britain’s Josh Tarling missed out on a bronze medal by just 2.16 seconds - after his efforts to salvage his race following an early puncture ended in heartbreak on the streets of Paris.
Tarling suffered a puncture to his front tyre and had to change his bike as he navigated the 32.4-km course. But despite that early setback, the 20-year-old Tarling managed to claw back time to threaten the medal positions.
Ultimately, though, Tarling finished agonisingly short of the podium, with Belgium’s Wout van Aert holding on to claim bronze, Italy’s Filippo Ganna silver and Remco Evenpoel winning gold for the Belgium team. The top four finished within 28 seconds of each other and well ahead of the rest of the field. There was a further 35 seconds from Tarling to the USA’s Brandon McNulty in fifth.
The time Tarling lost changing his bike in the mechanical resulted in bronze slipping through his fingers.
“Yes... Sh** happens, innit,” he said . “It just sucks, you know, a lot of effort in. It happens. Front puncture, it was on the rim, that corner coming up, I had to change. It’s annoying, in a few days, I’ve got the road race to come. We’ll see.”
Aldi are proud Official Partners of Team GB & ParalympicsGB, supporting all athletes through to Paris 2024
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