As the clock ticks down on Grace Brown's final months as a professional cyclist, she is hoping to deliver the ultimate swan song – a gold for Australia, or at least a first-ever medal for the nation in the women's time trial at the Paris Olympic Games.
The 32-year-old from Melbourne, who was a fourth-placed finisher in the Tokyo Games ITT, has lifted her game considerably since. She claimed silver at both the 2022 and 2023 World Championships, on the first occasion being 12 seconds behind Ellen van Dijk (Netherlands) and then six seconds back from Chloe Dygert (United States).
"I think it would be hard to have really high goals if I hadn’t come that close before: twice now at the World Championships. I can see that winning is possible," said Brown in a news release from AusCycling earlier this week. "You still carry a little bit of hurt that you weren’t able to do it in those opportunities.
