Team GB win second Paris Olympics medal as Anna Henderson survives rain-soaked chaos in cycling time trial

ANNA HENDERSON negotiated slippery Parisian cobbled streets to win Olympic silver like “a bit of a grandma” – having TWICE broken her collarbone this year.

The Hemel Hempstead rider, 25, stayed intact during the 32.4-kilometres time trial course to secure second place behind Australian Grace Brown – and she planned to celebrate with a French patisserie.

Anna Henderson claimed silver for Team GB

PA

It was the second medal of the Olympics for Great Britain[/caption]

Reuters

A tense finish saw Henderson narrowly beat American Chloe Dygert[/caption]

Rex

Henderson runs straight to her team after her silver medal race[/caption]

Her time of 41:09.83 was only beaten by Brown, who was 91 seconds ahead, while American Chloe Dygert fell less than a second short of Henderson’s time to end up in third place.

Yet as some of her rivals crashed on the rain-soaked tarmac, the clever Brit realised the key to achieving a medal was to treat the bends like an OAP.

And given her medical history in recent months, it is no surprise that she did not want to go headfirst to the ground.

Henderson, who missed out on a world medal last year by two seconds, said: “It’s really strange. I kind of blacked out through the whole thing.

“I knew I had to be super cautious because a lot of the girls had problems.

“I’m just really happy to be here and happy it paid off.I kept pushing all the way to the line.

“Really horrible conditions out there so I was really thankful that I could just stay upright on my bike as well.

“I was a bit of a grandma on the corners but that paid off and I used my power on the straights.”

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Her victory in the rain in France brought back memories of Nicole Cooke’s road race gold at the Beijing 2008 Olympics and Lizzie Deignan’s silver in the same event at 2012.

Both of those previous medals occurred in miserable and filthy conditions and maybe British women do well on road bikes when the weather abroad is like that in the UK.

It comes just hours after diving duo Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen claimed bronze in the women’s synchronised 3m springboard.

Perhaps as a former alpine skier – she gave that up when she fractured her leg in 2015 – she had the right balance to stay on two wheels throughout the 41 minutes and nine seconds.

Fortune was in her favour as Dygert took bronze – she may have had silver had it not been for a fall – and multiple world champion Lotte Kopecky of Belgium also came down.

Henderson feared she might never become an Olympian for the first time, especially when she broke her left collarbone in February.

In April, she broke it again in a crash three-kilometres shy of the finish of stage two of La Vuelta Feminina.

The national time trial champion had surgery in Holland and only returned to racing at the Tour of Britain in early June.

Asked how she managed to return so quickly, Henderson – who is contracted to Team Visma-Lease a Bike – responded: “A lot of blood, sweat and tears and support from your family, coaches and team.

“I know I just had to turn the pedals but there’s a whole huge group of people that got me here and I’m really proud.

“I was pretty much on my bike three days after the surgery indoors and the second one mentally hurt a lot and it took a lot to get back the motivation again.

“Did I worry about missing Paris? After the last crash, it did cross my mind.

“It was a really low point in my season but yeah, I really bounced back quickly.

“I had a good win at the nationals and a really good ride at the Tour of Britain and had a really good run into this with an altitude camp and everything.

“Really happy with my form and really happy with my ride.”

Rex

The Olympic star was in shock after her silver medal race[/caption]

Reuters

Henderson alongside gold medallist Grace Brown[/caption]