Tom Pidcock wins Olympic gold on the mountain bike. The Briton is unlucky at first with a defect - and then performs a daring overtaking maneuver shortly before the end, which still earns him the dramatic victory.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- The Swiss trump cards Nino Schurter and Mathias Flückiger don't come up trumps and remain without a medal in the cross-county race.
- Victory goes to Britain's Tom Pidcock, who makes a sensational comeback after a defect.
- Pidcock secured victory with a risky overtaking maneuver shortly before the end.
After the women, the Swiss men also remain without a medal in the Olympic cross-country race. Mathias Flückiger finished fifth, Nino Schurter ninth. This is only the second time since 2004 that the Swiss mountain bikers have failed to win a medal at the Summer Games.
As expected, the top favorite Thomas Pidcock took gold, despite losing a considerable amount of time and position due to a flat tire. After a borderline maneuver shortly before the finish line, the 24-year-old Brit won ahead of Frenchman Victor Koretzky. Bronze went to the South African Alan Hatherly.
The English cycling all-rounder Pidcock, who had already triumphed in cross-country in Tokyo in 2021 and is the reigning mountain bike world champion, attacked on the second of eight laps and pulled away. A flat tire caused him to fall back again and he had to race to catch up in order to regain the medal positions. In the thrilling finish, Koretzky initially seemed to have his nose in front in the duel with Pidcock after a successful counterattack. However, Pidcock then countered once again by putting his front wheel in front of Koretzky in the final forest section and cutting him off. Pidcock was booed by the mostly French fans at the finish.
For Koretzky, who started the season strongly and led the overall World Cup after four stages before he was slowed down by coronavirus and withdrew from competition until Paris, Olympic silver is also his greatest career success. World Championship bronze in 2021 was the two-time World Cup winner's only previous silverware at title competitions.
Flückiger narrowly beaten, Schurter clearly beaten
Flückiger and Schurter rode at the front at the beginning, but had nothing to counter Pidcock's increase in pace at the start of the second of eight laps in the French heat and had to let other riders go first.
While Pidcock fought his way back into the medal ranks and into the lead, Flückiger had to let the 24-year-old Englishman go on the third-to-last lap. "I expected more. But I'm basically satisfied with my performance. I didn't have a big hang-up anywhere that I should be annoyed about. Me and my team did everything we could in the run-up to the race. Maybe I didn't take enough risks in the downhills after seeing all the defects in the women's race. But a 5th place is not a mega bad result either," said Flückiger.
The visibly suffering Schurter, on the other hand, lost ground early on. After finishing 3rd (2008), 2nd (2012), 1st (2016) and 4th (2021), the 38-year-old from Graubünden ultimately finished ninth at his fifth Summer Games, the worst of all good Olympic results. The mountain bike record holder was also denied another Olympic diploma.
"It affects me emotionally because I know it was my last Olympic Games. I gave it everything I had until the end, but didn't really get into the race from the start. I was always a bit behind, didn't feel comfortable on this course right from the start and never got into the flow. Somehow it wasn't meant to be today. Knowing that it would be my last time, it was perhaps all a bit too much. I hope that the last time won't be like this everywhere," says Schurter.
What's more, the ten-time world champion and nine-time overall World Cup winner, who was unusually faulty, missed out on becoming the most successful Swiss Olympian of modern times with a fourth medal and replacing Fabian Cancellara as the most successful Swiss cyclist at the Summer Games with a second gold medal and a complete set of medals.
