Chloé Dygert was one rider who didn’t have to wait for the selection announcement to know she had secured a sought-after slot to represent the United States at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, as time trial world champion her place was secure, but that was where the certainty ended for the 27-year-old.
The months after she clinched her second rainbow jersey in the race against the clock in Glasgow did not deliver the smooth run into the Olympics that she had been hoping for.
“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,” said Dygert.. “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 Flanders, with the trauma from the two crashes in the race, flaring up the Achilles injury running up the climb, and the Olympics coming up, a decision was made to stop and fully recover to be prepared for the Olympics.”
That left the rider, who is looking ahead to her third participation at the Olympic Games, with just three days of racing on the road in the 2024 season and concern over whether or not she would be ready was creeping in.
“I had three weeks off the bike, and when I got back on the bike, 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 came.
“Halfway through the lead-up, I’d been at a track camp in Zolder, Belgium, with the USA team, and after that, I got Covid,” said Dygert, who plans to race the time trial and road race as well as the team pursuit on the track. “I thought this was the setback that I couldn’t have.”
However, the work she had been putting in ended up coming to the fore despite the bumps in the road along the way.
“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," said Dygert.
"There were times when I thought I wasn’t going to make it. But I’m here in Boise for the last preparation and feeling good.”
The rider who already has a silver and bronze medal at the Olympic Games, both from the Women's team pursuit, said that the experience of the once in four-year event has changed for her since Rio in 2016, as she appreciated the scale of the accomplishment of just being there more in Tokyo – particularly after her horrible crash in the time trial at the World Championships in 2020.
Nevertheless, Dygert added "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 will begin for Dygert on July 27 with the individual time trial where triathlete and US champion Taylor Knibb will also line up alongside her. Then Dygert will take on the road race alongside Kristen Faulkner on August 4 before turning her attention to the track, where she will race 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.”
