Roana Lecomte of France crashed badly while descending the rock garden in the women's mountain bike cross-country at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Leconte was part of the chase group fighting for the medal behind compatriot Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, who had won the gold medal. She attacked alone from the front but crashed on the rocky terrain.

“She was unconscious for a little while, but now she is conscious and with the medical staff. She is fine,” a French Cycling Federation (FFC) manager said, according to a France 3 report.

Furthermore, speaking to France TV, the coach of the French mountain bike team reassured that her situation is not as bad as it first seemed. He said, “Roana has some facial trauma, but ultimately it is nothing serious and she will recover and come back stronger.”

Lecomte was later photographed leaving Elancourt Hill with bandages on her arms and face, but she escaped the initially frightening incident and was smiling without significant damage.

“We can only imagine her pain. Roana is instinctive. She comes from an alpine skiing background and is not afraid of commitment at all. She runs and jumps ...... at 100 km/h. She is still young and will be able to fix that. We will surround her and be there for her, just like we were with Pauline [Ferrand-Prevaux] after Rio,” French mountain bike coach Yvan Clors told L'Equipe.

Lecomte, a medal contender before the race, was on the leading edge of the race from the start on the Elancourt hill. She was one of the early foursome, along with Ferrand-Prevot, who broke away from a group of 36 riders during the first 4.4 km lap. Lecomte was unable to keep up with Ferrand-Prevot's furious attack on the next lap and fell back to a chase group that included Jenny Risvedos (Sweden), Laura Stigger (Austria), and Haley Batten (USA).

On lap 4 at Rock Garden, Lecomte suffered a mishap while descending behind Stiger. She collapsed to the ground and was quickly tended to by medical staff.

With her sights set on the Olympics, Lecomte won one race in the Crans-Montana round, then skipped the Les Jeux World Cup in early July for a training camp in the mountains.

Last year, Lecomte won a silver medal behind Ferrand-Prevot in cross-country mountain biking at the Glasgow World Championships, and he also dominated the mountain bike test event held last year in the hills of Elancourt.

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