Before Haley Batten was tearing up the world’s best mountain biking trails in pursuit of an Olympic gold medal, she was tearing up the trails in her hometown of Park City, Utah.
Batten enters this year’s Summer Games in Paris as one of the best women cyclists in the world and with previous Olympic experience. She competed in Tokyo three years ago, where she finished ninth. This year, she has her eyes set on a better finish.
The Deseret News spoke with Batten ahead of the Paris Olympics to discuss her journey to the top of cross-country mountain biking.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Deseret News: How did growing up in Park City help you fall in love with the sport of mountain biking?
Haley Batten: The cycling community in Utah is incredible, and I think one of a kind really or one of the best in the world, for sure. In Park City and throughout Utah, the trail networks are just so amazing — and the outdoor space and the ability to explore it.
DN: What is your favorite trail system to ride in and outside Utah?
HB: That’s a hard question, but I think in Park City, I always rode on Park City Mountain Resort and all the way up to the Crest Trail. I just love the views up there.
But I think the best part about Park City is how everything connects, as well. You can go from Round Valley to Park City ski resort to Deer Valley to canyons. There’s just so much that connects, and that’s pretty cool.
I went to school in Squamish, British Columbia, just south of Whistler. That’s for sure my other favorite in the world. I think the riding there, the mountain biking, is some of the best in the world and just such a cool place to ride.
DN: You were planning to clinch your Olympic berth last year, but you had a concussion. How important is it as a professional athlete to be flexible when it comes to your goals and your plans?
HB: I think as an athlete you have to have a lot of planning. You have to be able to really stick to it, like relentlessly execute exactly what you want.
But at the same time, life happens. I think training, preparation, competing is all about adaptability. You have to be able to adapt in everyday life, so that when it gets to a competition day, you’re always able to adapt.
That’s what life’s about, and I think that’s what sport teaches you, is things are never as you expect them to be.
DN: Was that concussion the hardest injury you’ve had to overcome?
HB: I think that was the scariest for me, for sure. I think I never had a concussion that bad before, and it also took a really long time. I didn’t feel great for maybe four to five weeks, and took me a long time to get back to training, which was unusual and I expected it to be a lot faster.
I think the brain too is so fascinating because you realize how it’s really your perception of life, and it really affects your daily living.
I think if you break your arm, you can kind of go about life and you just can’t ride maybe. But something like that affects how you live, as well. That’s really challenging, and you also never know what the recovery is going to be like. Every concussion is so different. You have no idea how long it’s going to take, and every day you just really have to create belief that you will recover and that things are progressing.
DN: What did you learn from that first Olympic experience that you either already applied this time around or you’re planning on applying?
HB: I feel like that experience for me was very much attending the Olympics and learning what it’s about. I got a top 10 (finish). I was super happy with that.
But for me now, it’s really a performance experience. I’m going there to perform. I’ve dedicated my whole season on that race. Where in Tokyo, I was very much the underdog. Nobody thought I would qualify — I mean, I believed in it. But I think it was really surprising, even for me and my coach, that we nailed it as much as we did to qualify.
This year, we knew we needed to qualify, but it was, how can we qualify? We’re still 100% peaking on the Olympics. There’s a lot of learning that goes into that, to be able to commit yourself fully to one event and making sure that all the preparations are nailed for that. So I’m glad now that I have that background of experience from Tokyo and just all the details of preparing for it, that now I can hopefully, and I know I can, really nail the Olympics this time.
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DN: What do you think you have to do to win an Olympic medal?
HB: I think I just need to race at my best, and I can. I fully believe that I’m the best, one of the best, in the world right now.
At the end of the day, everybody’s fit. Everybody there is super strong and has worked really hard. I think what it is, is on race day, it’s fully race day execution and your mindset. That’s a big part of what my training has included this year, is the mental side of the preparation and the tactical side — how to race with the right mindset and with the right tactics in the event to perform. Not just giving your hardest, but how you spend your energy, how you race in the details of the race itself.
I think with that plan I can definitely earn a medal.
DN: What would it mean to you to win an Olympic medal?
HB: What I love about sport is, I love competing at the highest level, and I love competing at the pinnacle, where everybody’s ready, everybody’s at their best, and it’s really, really, really hard to win.
So for me, no, it’s not going to change my life. It’s not everything in the world to me to win a medal, but I think what it is, is it’s what I love to do. I love seeking human potential. I love challenging my mind and body to be their best.
I think that pursuit is what I love. If I can accomplish that, I think it’ll be absolutely insane, and I’ll be so thrilled to share with all all the people that I love.
DN: What’s your message to young female cyclists who are watching?
HB: If you love it, go for it and go all in and believe in yourself because it’s there, and also keep making a path for all the next young women behind you because every year, they’ll surpass us. They’ll get better and better and better, and stronger and stronger.
I think that’s part of why we love sport is that we’re just continuing to pave the way and share the journey with the generations before us and then generations after us, so it’s beautiful in that way.
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DN: What does it mean to you to represent your country at the biggest stage in the world for the second time?
HB: It’s hard to explain the emotion and the feeling of it all. When you race at the Olympics and represent your country, it feels so much larger than yourself. I know everybody says that, but it is so true.
When I go to World Cups, it’s almost just about me and maybe my cycling team — the team that I race with at the World Cups. But other than that, it’s kind of an individual sport.
When you go to race at the Olympics and you’re wearing Team USA, it feels a lot larger than you and you’re part of the medal count. You know it’s representing your family, your community, that the place you grew up in, and all the people that helped get you there.
