Chloé Dygert secured her place to represent the United States at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris as the time trial world champion. However, her journey since clinching her second rainbow jersey in Glasgow has been far from smooth.
Setbacks and Recovery
Speaking to CyclingNews, Chloe Dygert said, “the original plan was to do our team camp in December, go to Australia for Tour Down Under super fit, do the spring classics, hit the first part of the season hard and then have a break before the Olympics,” Dygert explained. “But that didn’t go to plan. I had an Achilles injury in December and tried to push things too fast to get back to spring racing.”
After competing in Flanders and dealing with two crashes that aggravated her Achilles injury, Dygert decided to take a break to fully recover. This choice was crucial with the Olympics approaching. As a result, she only had three days of racing on the road in the 2024 season, and doubts about her readiness began to surface.
Reassurance and Continued Challenges
“I had three weeks off the bike, and when I got back on, it was thirteen weeks before the ITT at the Games. I remember thinking I couldn’t do it; there was not enough time. But the team and my coaches Kristin and Gary (Sutton) reassured me I could as long as I had no more setbacks.”
However, another challenge arose. During a track camp in Zolder, Belgium, Dygert contracted Covid. “I thought this was the setback that I couldn’t have,” she said. Despite this, her efforts started to pay off. “I came back to the US, had some days off, relaxed, restarted, did my altitude preparation, and then started to break times that I hadn’t broken ever and see power numbers I hadn’t seen in a very long time.”
Final Preparation
Dygert, who already has a silver and bronze medal from the Women’s team pursuit over the last 2 Olympics, feels differently about the Olympics now compared to Rio 2016. “I can’t put the Games on a pedestal, or I won’t be able to perform. I see Paris as a race, like National or World Championships.”
The racing begins for Dygert on July 27 with the individual time trial, alongside triathlete and US champion Taylor Knibb. She will then compete in the road race on August 4 with Kristen Faulkner, before focusing on the Team Pursuit on August 6 and 7.
“For me, it’s important that the ITT is the first event. I race on the 27th and fully focus on the 27th for the 40-minute effort,” said Dygert. “I’ve seen footage of the ITT course. We will only know what road furniture has been removed once we ride it closer to the day or what roads have been repaved. It is a power course.”
“After the 27th, it’s ITT turned off and I’ll leave the village to spend some time on the track with the team to prepare and do some sessions on the road course. Hopefully, the road race will be raced hard enough to eliminate some sprinters.”
