Anna Henderson survived the slippery, treacherous roads of Paris to deliver Olympic silver for Great Britain in the women’s time trial as she edged out third-placed Chloe Dygert by less than one second.

On a day that saw several riders – including Dygert – crash, Henderson got the power down to clock a time of 41 minutes 10.7 seconds over the 32.4km course, one minute and 31 seconds down on Australian Grace Brown’s gold medal-winning ride.

“I had half an eye on a dream on the podium, and I didn’t think I could come this far on the podium so I’m really pleased,” the 25-year-old said.

Two-time former world champion Dygert, who has already endured a season hit by injury and illness, crashed just before the second intermediate time check, and the American was clearly in pain as she made her way to post-race interviews, having finished nine tenths of a second off Henderson’s time.

The rain that marred Friday’s opening ceremony continued well into Saturday and made slick a course that set off from the Esplanade des Invalides and then went east before doubling back to the Pont Alexandre III in front of the Grand Palais.

Several riders crashed, with American Taylor Knibb hitting the deck three times – even her mechanic fell over trying to give her a new bike – but Henderson held her nerve to secure the biggest result of her career to date.

“I didn’t realise how slippery it was out there until I was on the course…..I thought I can lose a whole Olympic Games on one corner here, so really take control and you gain all the good time on the straights,” Henderson said.

“So I really took control, my coach (Chris Newton) did a really good job to keep me calm all the way through and really keep me pushing until the end. Last year I was two seconds from the bronze at Worlds so I’m really happy to be on the right side of the seconds this time.”

Henderson, a former junior national slalom champion who dreamed of competing at a Winter Olympics, took fourth at those world championships in Glasgow last year before claiming silver at the Euros a few months later.

The Hemel Hempstead-born rider came to Paris as an obvious contender for a medal but one happy to stay under the radar after a start to the season which saw her break her collarbone twice, most recently in April, before winning a second British time trial title in June.

“I was pretty much on my bike three days after the surgery (in April),” she said. “The second (broken collarbone) mentally hurt a lot and it got a lot to get back the motivation again but I always had Paris on my mind and that really carried me through.

“I can’t stop mentioning the people around me that also got me through. Yeah, really happy, really proud and thankful.”

Dygert said she was suffering from spasms in her right leg and had bashed her helmet. She will undergo medical assessment before a decision is made on her participation in the road race and the team pursuit on the track.