Olympics Cycling Mountain Bike 2016 results: Sweden’s Jenny Rissveds wins the gold
By Brad Weiss
The final women’s event in cycling took place on Saturday, with Sweden’s Jenny Rissveds winning the gold medal in Women’s Cross-country.
The women’s cycling events at the 2016 Rio Olympics came to a close on Saturday, as they raced in the women’s cross-country. Women’s cross-country is the longest cycling event that the women must navigate, and it takes superior skill.
The cross-country track is 5km long, and the women had to navigate it six times. The race was held at the Mountain Bike Centre, and it included stone and grass trails. The riders had to navigate stones and logs, making it extremely difficult.
2012 London Olympics gold medalist Julie Bresset did not participate in 2016, which cleared a path for Germany’s Sabine Spitz. Spitz was the silver medalist during the London Games, but she did not fair as well in Rio.
In fact, the top two ranked women in the International Cycling Union did not medal at all. World No. 1 Annika Langvad from Denmark, and the second-ranked Spitz finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
The gold medal went to Jenny Rissveds of Sweden, the sixth-ranked cyclist in the world, who clocked a time of 1:30:15. She beat silver medal winner Maja Włoszczowska by 0:37s. The two were locked for most of the race, with Rissveds pulling away on the final lap. It was an incredible showing by both women.
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The bronze medal went to Canada’s Catharine Pendrel, who missed out on a medal by nearly one minute. Pendrel crashed early in the race, but was able to recover and finish in third. It was an incredible group of cyclists, but Pendrel was able to chip away as time went on.
MEDAL RESULT | Women's Cross-country Mountain Bike
The final cycling event of the 2016 Rio Olympics will take place on Sunday, as the men have their Cross-country race. Look for Peter Sagan to capture the gold, who is a five-time Tour de France green jacket winner.