"It's getting harder and harder to return" - Chloé Dygert hopes to stay clear of bad luck and find her way back to the top in 2025

Adding to her bronze medal from the Olympic Games, Chloé Dygert had to settle to a third spot at the podium of World Championships as well. The defending champion was simply level behind the winner of both events - Grace Brown. But with the Australian retiring, Dygert can once again aim for the top. If only she manages to stay clear of her bad luck...

"It's never easy not to be on the top," the American said at a press conference. "That's what you aim for and what we all train for. So I regret it, it's not easy. Ultimately, I'm on the podium with two of the best riders in the world, so that's an honor, but I'm also more than motivated to get back in the rainbow jersey. Hopefully, next year."

Since her bad crash at the 2020 World Time Trial Championships, things have not been going smoothly for the former top rider. "If you keep getting setbacks, you can only push back to a certain point. You can be the strongest in the world mentally, but in today's peloton, it's hard to keep up if you keep running into bad luck."

Dygert hopes she'll get to enjoy a full season without major setbacks once. "So I desperately hope to run a consistent year and feel like my old self again. Since my accident I haven't had six months where everything went [well]. That's tough, but I'm glad I'm still there and getting a lot of support."

"It's getting harder and harder to return," she confesses. "This season has been the hardest, at least after my crash. Last year, I won the World Championship but immediately ended up with corona. Then I had to come back from that for another month and a half, and already looking at the beginning of this season, but then in December, I suffered another injury. Then I got corona again, and it became tight enough to build up to the Games, where I crashed. Hopefully, the puzzle pieces will fall into place soon, and I can close that difficult period after this year," she concluded.