Paris 2024 Olympic Games: Tom Pidcock wins second gold medal on mountain bike despite flat tire

Paris, July 30: Defending champion Tom Pidcock produced one of the best rides to claim his second gold medal in the men’s mountain bike cross country at the Paris Olympics on Monday. The British rider overcame a punctured front tire that cost him 36 seconds in the race to overtake Frenchman Victor Koretzky as they battled it out on the final straight of the race. Paris 2024 Olympic Games: Japan’s Yuto Horigome wins second Olympic gold medal in men’s street skateboarding event.

Pidcock completed the eight laps of the 4.4-kilometer course in one hour, 26 minutes and 22 seconds, nine seconds faster than Koretzky and with South African Alan Hatherly claiming the bronze medal, two seconds more. Pidcock’s victory means he successfully defends the gold he won in Tokyo and comes a day before his 25th birthday, Xinhua reports.

The 36 men, representing 27 nations, completed eight laps of the man-made course, which featured fast-packed gravel, a challenging descent and tricky rock formations. Halfway through the race, Koretzky had promised a French double, following Sunday’s victory for Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, but despite the deafening support, it was not to be. Pidcock made up the time lost to the puncture and took glory. Heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk will come to France to support Ukrainian athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“This week, with the Olympics, there are so many things to think about by the time you get to the start line. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy today. I knew after the puncture that I had almost five laps, and that’s 50 minutes, so I thought, anything is possible. In the end, it went really fast with Victor, I just couldn’t lose him! I just had to get a gap. The Olympics are no different. I feel sorry for him, the support for him was incredible,” said the new Olympic champion, Tom Pidcock.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 30, 2024 11:45 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).