The 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games kick off on Friday with the opening ceremony. Shortly after that, former Fort Lewis cycling star and current Durango resident Savilia Blunk will race for gold in the women’s Olympic mountain biking race on Sunday.
Starting at 6:10 a.m. MST, Blunk will race the world’s other top female mountain bikers around the 2.7-mile Élancourt Hill course, located about 25 miles outside of Paris. The highest point of the course is 758 feet above sea level and has about 360 feet of elevation gain.
Riders enjoyed the course at a test event last September. Élancourt Hill has been described as a physical course more than a technical one. It has groomed gravel paths, a difficult climb and a challenging rock garden.
There are 36 riders on the start list for the women’s races. The best countries could bring two riders instead of three like in past Olympics.
Rain is expected in Paris on Friday and Saturday but the course should dry out for the women’s race on Sunday and the men’s race on Monday.
Blunk isn’t expected to compete for gold according to oddsmakers. Despite being fourth in the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup women’s elite standings, Blunk has the seventh-best odds to take home the gold. Blunk has +2500 odds to win the race according to DraftKings Sportsbook. This means a $5 wager on Blunk to win would return $130.
The Skyhawk graduate still has a good shot at competing for a medal. But she’ll have to beat several top riders and possibly some of the betting favorites for gold.
The favorite for gold is France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prévot according to the experts and the oddsmakers. She finished 10th in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics women’s mountain biking race. Ferrand-Prévot is a versatile rider who has raced in mountain biking, road racing and cyclo-cross. This is Ferrand-Prévot’s last season competing in mountain biking and she’ll be motivated to go out on top.
She has focused on this Olympic race and only raced in two World Cup events. Ferrand-Prévot won both the cross-country Olympic races she competed in.
Ferrand-Prévot is the betting favorite with -160 odds to win the gold medal, according to DraftKings. Meaning, a $5 wager on Ferrand-Prévot to win would return $8.12 if she did win.
Another contender for gold is Netherlands’ Puck Pieterse. She’s been at the front of every World Cup race she has been in. She’s second in the women’s elite World Cup standings despite not racing in the first two World Cup events.
Pieterse finished no lower than fourth in her four cross-country Olympic World Cup races and won the last cross-country Olympic World Cup race at Les Gets, France.
The top Dutch rider has the second-best odds at +300 to win gold according to DraftKings. This means a $5 wager on Pieterse to win would get $20 back if she won.
Pieterse is definitely expected to get a medal.
Another top rider expected to be at the front is France’s Loana Lecomte. She’s coming into the Olympics with great form having won the women’s elite cross-country Olympic World Cup race at Crans-Montana in Switzerland. She also won the test event at Élancourt Hill last year.
Lecomte has the third-best odds at +500 to win at DraftKings. A $5 bet on Lecomte would return $30 if she won. It’s definitely plausible there could be two French riders on the podium at the end of Sunday’s race.
Despite being first in the women’s elite World Cup standings, Switzerland’s Alexandra Keller is still a long shot at +1200 to win gold, according to DraftKings. A $5 wager on Keller would return $65 if she won. This may be because while she has been consistently at the front of the field in cross-country Olympic, she has not won a World Cup cross-country race. Keller is a threat to get a medal and could be seen battling Blunk on Sunday.
The other American in the women’s field is Haley Batten. Born and raised in Park City, Utah, Batten has been very consistent in World Cups and won the cross-country Olympic race in Araxá, Brazil, and is currently third in the women’s elite World Cup standings.
Batten currently has the fifth-best odds at +1500 to win the gold. A $5 wager would return $80 if she won. Batten’s consistency in World Cups and her Olympic experience should put her in contention for a medal. Batten raced at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and finished ninth.
The 2020 gold medalist Jolanda Neff isn’t racing due to breathing issues which have caused her to miss a lot of training and racing.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
