The cross-country mountain bike competitions at the Paris Olympic Games take place on the opening weekend of the global sports extravaganza, with cycling events spanning July 26 to August 11. Elite women begin the XCO competitions on Saturday at Élancourt Hill, located 25km outside Paris, with the elite men following the next day, July 27.
There are 36 riders on the start list for each contest, balanced fields for women and men. Cross-country mountain biking made its debut in the Olympic Games in 1996 in Atlanta, where Bart Brentjens of the Netherlands took the first-ever gold medal for men. Only one man has ever won two gold medals in the XCO race and Frenchman Julien Absalon went back-to-back in 2004 and 2008.
A 4.4km course awaits the men at Élancourt Hill, on which riders took solid notes at a Test Event last September with its groomed gravel paths, a technical rock garden, twisting terrain and one signature, challenging climb, which is bypassed on the opening 2.2km lap. The main circuit, with 110 metres of elevation gain, crosses the highest point in the Paris area, offering views in the distance of the Eiffel Tower.
Two gold medalists are in the field for the men, 2016 Rio winner Nino Schurter (Switzerland) and the Tokyo defending champion Tom Pidcock (Great Britain), as well as the silver medalist from 2021 Mathias Flückiger (Switzerland). In fact, Flückiger’s analysis of this year’s battle was straightforward, “Tom Pidcock is the top gold favorite”.
Should a new Olympic champion be crowned in Paris, there is a strong argument that France’s Victor Koretzky will carry an advantage, especially after he won the Mountain Bike Test Event last year as well as the most recent World Cup round in Les Gets.
Also in the mix will be World Cup leader Alan Hatherly of South Africa and a pair of US riders, 22-year-old Riley Amos and fellow Coloradoan Christopher Blevins.
Tom Pidcock rides to rainbow stripes at 2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Glasgow (Image credit: OLI SCARFF / AFP via Getty Images)
Tom Pidcock comes into Paris as the top choice to take a second gold medal, as he is not only the defending cross-country Olympic champion but also the reigning XCO world champion, a first for a British male.
He’ll ride double-duty for the United Kingdom at the Paris Games by competing a week later in the men’s road race. The 24-year-old said he is, however, firmly focused on the MTB repeat.
Riding for Ineos Grenadiers, Pidcock finished second on stage 9 of the Tour de France, the rigorous route marked by 14 gravel sections around Troyes. But mid-way through the Tour’s second week, the Brit suffered from COVID-19 symptoms and pulled out for rest at home. His preparations for Paris seem to be smooth.
His WorldTour road schedule did not permit many opportunities to compete on the MTB World Cup circuit this season, but he won the two races he started – Nové Město and Crans-Montana.
While the Olympic course does not have a lot of elevation gain, it does have an abundance of technical sections that suit Pidcock’s punchy attacking style.
Nino Schurter of Switzerland won the Mountain Bike Cross-country world title for the 10th time in 2022 (Image credit: OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE / AFP via Getty Images)
Switzerland is well represented by a pair of mountain bike veterans, Nino Schurter and Mathias Flückiger, the duo both owning Olympic Games medals. On a heavy schedule of World Cup races this season, 2023 series winner Schurter was second overall in the current standings after six rounds while Flückinger, who was third last year, was sixth overall.
Schurter has a collection of all three Olympic medals, earning the bronze in Beijing in 2008, the silver in London in 2012 and then capturing the gold in Rio four years later. He finished one spot off the podium in Tokyo. He continues to light up the leaderboard in the World Cup races, building momentum with a podium at Nové Město and the win at Val di Sole.
Last year, Schurter was the lone Swiss representative at the Mountain Bike Test Event and finished third, just four seconds behind French winner Victor Koretzky. He’ll have one last shot at a win at Elancourt Hill and a fourth Olympic medal, as the 10-time XCO World Champion in XCO makes his final appearance in the Olympics, and maybe his final season of racing.
It is the third Olympic Games for Flückiger, who was sixth in Rio before riding to silver in Tokyo. The 36-year-old ramped up his fitness before Paris with second-place finishes at the last two World Cup events. He provides a second card for the Swiss one-two punch and seems to especially thrive on technical courses. The Swiss duo will be a fierce pair in Paris, and either could claim the top step of the podium.
Victor Koretzky competes in French Mountain Bike National Championships in 2024 (Image credit: Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP / Getty Images)
At the Olympic mountain bike cross-country Test Event in September last year, Frenchman Victor Koretzky sprinted to victory on home soil ahead of Anton Cooper (New Zealand) and Nino Schurter (Switzerland). While Cooper will not be in France this time and Schurter will be tough to drop a second time, look for Koretzky to shine no matter the weather on Sunday.
The 29-year-old competed for several years in the pro road peloton, winning a stage at the Alpes Isère Tour in 2022 with B&B Hotels, but turned his focus to mountain biking to compete in his third Olympic Games.
He was leading the XCO World Cup standings earlier this season, but suffered a crash in the short track race at Nové Město and had a bout with COVID-19, missing Crans-Montana. Upon his return at Val Di Sole, he took second in the XCC race but did not perform well the next day in XCO. He will be a wildcard in Paris.
Alan Hatherly (South Africa)
Alan Hatherly (South Africa) finished eighth in mountain bike cross-country at the Tokyo Olympic Games (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
The Paris Olympic Games will be a third chance for Alan Hatherly to make history for South Africa with a medal of any colour in the cross-country event. After 26th place in Rio in 2016, he finished eighth in Tokyo.
The 28-year-old hasn’t waited for Paris to make some history, as he became the first South African to win an XCO World Cup race earlier in July. It was a “dream weekend” on the sixth round of the series at Les Gets, France, Hatherly winning both the XCO and short track races.
The victory, along with two other podiums this year, gave him a solid lead in the World Cup XCO standings, plus a huge boost for Sunday’s cross-country contest.
Riley Amos (left) and Christopher Blevins are part of Team USA’s mountain bike team with women Savilia Blunk (second left) and Haley Batten (right) (Image credit: Joe Scarnici / Getty Images for USOPC)
Riley Amos, the 22-year-old from Durango, Colorado, makes his debut at the Olympic Games for Team USA, steamrolling across the U23 division of the World Cup so far this year with five consecutive victories.
He won the XCO title at the Pan-American MTB Championships in Midway, Utah in early May, which helped the US secure two quota spots for Paris, the first time since 2012 that the USA would have more than one man in the Olympic MTB event. He followed that performance with wins at Nové Město and Crans-Montana and sealed his spot for Paris to race alongside fellow Coloradoan Christopher Blevins.
“It’s honestly unreal – I definitely didn’t think at the start of the year that something like this was possible, for sure,” Amos said in a Team USA report after winning at Crans-Montana. “This is my fourth season in the under-23 category, so I’ve had four years to develop as an athlete physically and mentally.”
After the win in Switzerland, Amos returned home to the US to rest for several weeks to be fresh for his trip to France, where the US men look to score a medal in mountain biking for the first time.
The 25-year-old Blevins finished 14th in the XCO contest in Tokyo. He is eighth overall in this year’s World Cup standings, based largely on his victory in Mairiporã, Brazil in April, but spent the last two weeks at a training camp in Annecy, France to prepare for his second Games.
When is the Paris Olympics men’s mountain bike cross country?
The men’s race begins on July 29 at 14:10 CET or 8:10 EDT. Find out how to watch cycling at the Paris Olympics
