On the ultimate day of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, reigning Olympic champion Jennifer Valente (USA) maintained her focus all through the four-race girls’s Omnium, securing the gold medal as soon as once more.
Valente’s gold medal is her fifth Olympic medal general, earned throughout three Olympic Games, and her second gold of those Games. She beforehand received a silver in crew pursuit on the Rio 2016 Olympics and each a silver and gold on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
“There’s nothing higher than this and I’m tremendous, tremendous happy and enthusiastic about this,” Valente mentioned.
“I feel every Olympic medal is approached as its personal entity and also you goal a race and also you do what you may to arrange and that’s typically both a complete quad, it is a four-year course of and even an eight-year course of or a complete profession course of. And so choosing occasions and specializing in these and actually concentrating on what you are attempting to perform.”
“Each Olympic medal is its personal course of and its personal journey.”
The technique on the ultimate day of racing on the Olympics was to remain calm within the sizzling velodrome.
“Staying cool, not overheating was an enormous one, however so far as racing goes, taking every race as a stand-alone mainly and actually sort of come out swinging for every one after which reset for the subsequent race.”
After putting first within the scratch race and second within the tempo race, Valente led the complete Elimination race, choosing off opponents one after the other. By ending first within the third occasion, she added 40 factors to her whole, extending her result in 10 factors over Australia’s Georgia Baker.
The American rider knew that something may occur within the chaotic last race, the factors race.
“An omnium is actually not over till it is all the way in which over and bunch racing could be so unpredictable and quite a lot of issues can occur, there could be crashes, folks can take a late lap or, or, and each time there are factors, the leaderboard reshuffles slightly bit,” she mentioned. “So you need to proceed to judge what’s occurring.”
After incomes 5 factors within the first dash of the factors race, Valente intently monitored Baker, who was narrowing the hole. With beneath 50 laps to go, a number of riders lapped the sphere, every gaining 20 factors. Sensing the urgency, Valente made a decisive transfer to hitch them, efficiently lapping the sphere and including 20 essential factors to her whole.
Valente clinched the Olympic title with 144 factors.
When requested if she deliberate to compete on the 2028 Los Angeles video games, Valente replied “I feel I’m going to try to rush to get to the Closing Ceremony proper now. That’s the one factor I’m excited about.”
