Cycling at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's cross-country

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Women's cross-country
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Olympic mountain bike cycling
VenueIzu MTB Course
Date27 July 2021
Competitors38 from 29 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Jolanda Neff  Switzerland
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Sina Frei  Switzerland
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Linda Indergand  Switzerland
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The women's cross-country mountain biking event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 27 July 2021 at the Izu MTB Course, Izu, Shizuoka.[1] 38 cyclists from 29 nations were expected to compete, but only 37 did.[2] The race ended in all three medals won by Swiss athletes, the first medal sweep in Olympic cycling history.

Background

This was the 7th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics since mountain bike cycling was added to the programme in 1996.

The reigning Olympic champion was Jenny Rissveds of Sweden, and the reigning (2020) World Champion was Pauline Ferrand-Prévot of France.

A preview by Olympics.com noted the favourites as Rissveds, Kate Courtney of the United States (2018 World Champion and 2019 World Cup series winner), Jolanda Neff and Sina Frei of Switzerland (test event winner and runner-up), and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (2019 & 2020 World Champion).[3]

Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified cyclists in the cross-country. Quota places are allocated to the NOC, which selects the cyclists. Qualification is primarily through the UCI nation rankings, with 30 of the 38 quota places available through that pathway. The top 2 NOCs earned 3 quota places. NOCs ranked 3rd through 7th earned 2 quota places. NOCs ranked 8th through 21st earned 1 quota places. The second path to qualification was continental tournaments for Africa, the Americas, and Asia; the top NOC at each tournament (which had not already earned a quota place) received 1 place. The third path was the 2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. The top 2 NOCs (without a quota place yet) in the Elite category earned a place; the top 2 NOCs in the U-23 category (without a quota, including through the Elite category) also earned a place. The host nation was reserved one place, to be reallocated through the rankings if Japan earned a place normally.[2] Because qualification was complete by the end of the 2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships on 1 March 2020 (the last event that contributed to the 2018–20 rankings), qualification was unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Competition format

The competition is a mass-start, five-lap race. There is only one round of competition. The mountain bike course is 4.1 kilometres (2.5 mi) long, with sudden changes in elevation, narrow dirt trails, and rocky sections. The vertical height is 150 metres (490 ft). Riders with times 80% slower than the leader's first lap are eliminated.[4][5]

Start list

Results

Result[6][7]
Rank # Cyclist Nation Time Diff.
1st place, gold medalist(s) 4 Jolanda Neff  Switzerland 1:15:46
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 7 Sina Frei  Switzerland 1:16:57 + 1:11
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 19 Linda Indergand  Switzerland 1:17:05 + 1:19
4 33 Blanka Vas  Hungary 1:17:55 + 2:09
5 3 Anne Terpstra  Netherlands 1:18:21 + 2:35
6 5 Loana Lecomte  France 1:18:43 + 2:57
7 14 Evie Richards  Great Britain 1:19:09 + 3:23
8 9 Yana Belomoyna  Ukraine 1:19:40 + 3:54
9 15 Haley Batten  United States 1:20:13 + 4:27
10 1 Pauline Ferrand-Prévot  France 1:20:18 + 4:32
11 12 Anne Tauber  Netherlands 1:20:18 + 4:32
12 30 Malene Degn  Denmark 1:20:34 + 4:48
13 27 Caroline Bohé  Denmark 1:20:57 + 5:11
14 11 Jenny Rissveds  Sweden 1:21:28 + 5:42
15 6 Kate Courtney  United States 1:22:19 + 6:33
16 17 Daniela Campuzano  Mexico 1:22:50 + 7:04
17 10 Janika Lõiv  Estonia 1:23:17 + 7:31
18 20 Catharine Pendrel  Canada 1:23:47 + 8:01
19 25 Ronja Eibl  Germany 1:23:59 + 8:13
20 21 Maja Włoszczowska  Poland 1:24:25 + 8:39
21 23 Tanja Žakelj  Slovenia 1:24:38 + 8:52
22 22 Jitka Čábelická  Czech Republic 1:25:00 + 9:14
23 31 Sofía Gómez Villafañe  Argentina 1:25:13 + 9:27
24 28 Candice Lill  South Africa 1:26:20 + 10:34
25 8 Eva Lechner  Italy 1:26:26 + 10:40
26 18 Rocío del Alba García  Spain 1:26:32 + 10:46
27 34 Raquel Queirós  Portugal 1:27:46 + 12:00
28 2 Rebecca McConnell  Australia 1:30:29 + 14:43
29 29 Haley Smith  Canada -1 LAP
30 36 Viktoria Kirsanova  ROC
31 24 Erin Huck  United States
32 26 Elisabeth Brandau  Germany
33 13 Githa Michiels  Belgium -2 LAP
34 38 Yao Bianwa  China
35 32 Jaqueline Mourão  Brazil
36 37 Michelle Vorster  Namibia -3 LAP
37 35 Miho Imai  Japan
16 Laura Stigger  Austria DNF

References

  1. ^ "Cycling Mountain Bike Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 28 June 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Qualification System – Games of the XXXII Olympiad – Cycling Mountain Bike" (PDF). Union Cycliste Internationale. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  3. ^ "Cycling Mountain Bike". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  4. ^ "UCI CYCLING REGULATIONS PART 3 TRACK RACES" (PDF). UCI. 6 December 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  5. ^ Liam Nee (26 March 2021). "Cycling 101: Competition format". NBC. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  6. ^ "Results" (PDF). 2020 Summer Olympics. Omega SA. 27 July 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  7. ^ "Race Analysis" (PDF). 2020 Summer Olympics. Omega SA. 26 July 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021.