In the women's Olympic cross-country race, the Swiss get off to a good start, but others dictate the pace at first: It is the young Austrian Laura Stigger who sets the pace and pulls the previous high-flyer Loana Lecomte along. But then the tide begins to turn. Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Jolanda Neff are now contesting the top positions. Linda Indergand and Sina Frei are also slowly crawling forward, while Stigger is losing ground. The Austrian gives up the race halfway through, hyperventilating. But Lecomte also experiences difficulties and can no longer keep up.

In the dual descent followed by a steep ascent, Ferrand-Prevot finds herself in a completely unfavorable situation. Together with Neff in the lead, she slipped on the ascent, did not make it up the ramp and lost a lot of time. Neff, who is riding on the side line, masters the passage confidently and pulls away. However, the Frenchwoman does not give up and sets off in pursuit and even makes it back to second place three laps before the end, albeit almost 50 seconds behind Neff.

The Frenchwoman's effort is too great after all. The reigning world champion flies back behind Linda Indergand and Sina Frei and increasingly loses ground again. The Swiss triple lead is a reality, but the race still has two laps to go. Loana Lecomte, who bravely held on to fourth and fifth place with Anne Terpstra for a long time, also falls back a little, while the Hungarian Blanka Vas takes the position of the first chaser.

There are no more changes in the last lap, the first three places remain untouched. After a few tough years, Jolanda Neff becomes Olympic champion in a calm and convincing manner. "It's mega cool! It was much less bad than I had imagined the race would be," enthuses Jolanda Neff after the race. "I had the race well under control, was focused right to the end and never overdid it in terms of strength - I hope I never wake up from this dream!" And the protagonists are working hard for this dream together with Swiss Cycling, as Neff adds: "We've been betting big on this race for years, preparing perfectly and adapting. The latter until shortly before the race, when we inspected the course again, which had been changed due to the rain. And now we were able to bring it to the ground together - simply incredible!"

After Neff crosses the finish line, the most beautiful duel for silver takes place. In the end, Sina Frei is a tick stronger and takes the silver medal at her first Olympic Games. "The three of us on the Olympic podium - it couldn't be better! I'm over the moon that all the hard training has paid off. We've always had great support in the run-up to the race," says Sina Frei, referring to the changed course situation before the race: "In the morning we got a call to come to the course half an hour earlier because a lot had changed due to the rain. The conditions couldn't have been better for us and we did everything perfectly. But I still can't really believe it. The fact that I won the silver medal at my first Olympic Games makes me all the more proud."

Linda Indergand celebrates her bronze medal, the biggest success of her successful career. "A huge thank you to everyone here, to the Swiss team - they did a great job, but also to everyone who had their fingers crossed at home! It was great to ride with Sina in the race, she pushed me hard on the climbs. To come third and share the podium with my team colleagues, I'm simply speechless." The athlete from Uri also talks about the nervous situation before the race: "We had great support from our technical coach Oscar Saiz, who inspected the course with us again before the race. We knew that we were super on the bike in terms of riding technique and always remained calm, while others were nervous and made lots of mistakes. That was our key to success."

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