Respectable finish for Looser at Paris 2024
Road cycling
Namibia’s former continental champion Vera Looser showed great form to finish in 68th position at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games late yesterday afternoon.
The 30-year-old achieved the best result of her three Olympic Games so far, having turned in “Did Not Finish” results at both Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2021.
Ninety women riders were qualified to take on the challenging route through the French capital that stretched for 158 kilometres, with a total of 1 700 metres of vertical ascent and including nine named climbs.
Looser’s finishing group crossed the line 11 minutes after the leaders.
Ashleigh Moolman Pasio of South Africa finished in 33rd position, as the first African contender and only one ahead of Looser. Tiffany Keep (RSA) and Kim Le Court (Mauritius) did not finish the race.
At the front of the race, Kristen Faulkner clinched the gold medal for the USA. The former rower from Alaska powered to victory in 3 hours 59 minutes 23 seconds, to win by a margin of 58 seconds.
Behind her, Marianne Vos (Netherlands, silver) beat defending 2021 champion Lotte Kopecky (Belgium, bronze) in a photo finish.
“It's a dream come true... It's the best feeling in the world. I don't know how to describe it. I took a really big risk a few years ago to come to pursue my dream and I made it happen,” Faulkner said at the finish line.
Describing the last stretch to the line, Faulkner said: “I was pretty sure I’d won but it was like ‘what in the world just happened?’ I couldn’t process it. It took me a few minutes. I had to double and triple check that I won gold. I knew it but I didn’t know it.”
Alison Jackson (19th) of Canada was the next-best finisher from a non-European country behind Faulkner.
The 30-year-old achieved the best result of her three Olympic Games so far, having turned in “Did Not Finish” results at both Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2021.
Ninety women riders were qualified to take on the challenging route through the French capital that stretched for 158 kilometres, with a total of 1 700 metres of vertical ascent and including nine named climbs.
Looser’s finishing group crossed the line 11 minutes after the leaders.
Ashleigh Moolman Pasio of South Africa finished in 33rd position, as the first African contender and only one ahead of Looser. Tiffany Keep (RSA) and Kim Le Court (Mauritius) did not finish the race.
At the front of the race, Kristen Faulkner clinched the gold medal for the USA. The former rower from Alaska powered to victory in 3 hours 59 minutes 23 seconds, to win by a margin of 58 seconds.
Behind her, Marianne Vos (Netherlands, silver) beat defending 2021 champion Lotte Kopecky (Belgium, bronze) in a photo finish.
“It's a dream come true... It's the best feeling in the world. I don't know how to describe it. I took a really big risk a few years ago to come to pursue my dream and I made it happen,” Faulkner said at the finish line.
Describing the last stretch to the line, Faulkner said: “I was pretty sure I’d won but it was like ‘what in the world just happened?’ I couldn’t process it. It took me a few minutes. I had to double and triple check that I won gold. I knew it but I didn’t know it.”
Alison Jackson (19th) of Canada was the next-best finisher from a non-European country behind Faulkner.
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