The women's cross-country mountain biking event at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

took place on 27 July 2021 at the Izu MTB Course,

Izu, Shizuoka is a city located in central Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 30,678 in 13,390 households, and a population density of 84 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Geography Izu ...

. 38 cyclists from 29 nations were expected to compete, but only 37 did. 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 Jenny Rissveds (born 6 June 1994) is a Swedish cross-country mountainbike rider. She won the gold medal in the under-23 mountainbike race at the World Championships in 2016. Born in Falun, Rissveds won the gold medal in women's cross country ...

of Sweden, and the reigning (2020) World Champion was

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (born 10 February 1992) is a French multi-discipline bicycle racer, who rides for UCI Elite Mountain Bike team BMC MTB Racing in cross-country cycling. and has signed for Ineos Grenadiers for 2023. Ferrand-Prévot has al ...

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 Jolanda Neff (born 5 January 1993) is a Swiss cyclist, who primarily rides in the cross-country cycling and cyclo-cross disciplines, for the Trek Factory Racing team. She won the gold medal in the women's cross-country event at the 2020 Summer ...

and

Sina Frei Sina Frei (born 18 July 1997) is a Swiss cross-country cyclist. She participated at the 2018 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, winning a medal. On 27 July 2021, Frei won the silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Her teammates, ...

of Switzerland (test event winner and runner-up), and

(2019 & 2020 World Champion).

Qualification

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

(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 2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships was held in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, from August 28 to September 1, 2019. This was the 30th edition of the most prestigious mountain bike UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, event on the calendar, ...

. 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. Because qualification was complete by the end of the

2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships The 2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships were held in Berlin, Germany from 26 February to 1 March 2020. Schedule 20 events were held: ''All times are local (UTC+1).'' Medal summary Medal table Men Women *Shaded events are no ...

on 1 March 2020 (the last event that contributed to the 2018–20 rankings), qualification was unaffected by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Competition format

The competition is a mass-start, five-lap race. There is only one round of competition. The mountain bike course is long, with sudden changes in elevation, narrow dirt trails, and rocky sections. The vertical height is . Riders with times 80% slower than the leader's first lap are eliminated.

Start list

Results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cycling at the 2020 Summer Olympics - Women's cross-country Women's cross-country Cycling at the Summer Olympics – Women's cross-country 2021 in mountain biking Women's events at the 2020 Summer Olympics