Switzerland is one of the leading mountain bike nations and has numerous world-class athletes. Combined with the fact that only two female and two male athletes per country will be eligible to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, Swiss Cycling and the Swiss Olympic selection committee were spoiled for choice: which mountain bikers will start in Paris? A few hours after the final qualification race in Nové Město (Czech Republic), the selection committee decided to select Alessandra Keller, Jolanda Neff, Mathias Flückiger and Nino Schurter for Paris 2024. It thus complied with the request from Swiss Cycling.

Nino Schurter will be taking part in his fifth Olympic Games in Paris. The most successful mountain biker in history is aiming for his fourth Olympic medal after bronze in Beijing 2008, silver in London 2012 and gold in Rio 2016. In 2021, Schurter finished a thankless fourth in the Olympic race in Tokyo. He underlined his strong form today in Nové Město with second place in the cross-country race.

Jolanda Neff has the opportunity in Paris to follow up her 2021 Olympic victory with another medal win. In Tokyo, the St. Gallen native triumphed ahead of her teammates Sina Frei (silver) and Linda Indergand (bronze) and made Swiss sporting history with this triple victory. The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris will be the third for the 31-year-old mountain biker, whose palmarès includes a World Championship title, three European Championship titles and three overall World Cup victories in addition to her Olympic victory.

Mathias Flückiger will be taking part in his third Olympic Games in Paris. At the 2021 Games in Tokyo, the athlete from Bern won the silver medal after a strong performance. He finished 6th in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. The 35-year-old Bernese athlete's other successes include four World Championship medals (silver in 2019, 2020 and 2021 and bronze in 2012) and winning the overall World Cup in 2021. Today he finished sixth in the cross-country race in Nové Město.

Alessandra Keller is making her Olympic debut in Paris. The athlete from Nidwalden has established herself among the world's best in recent years. In 2022, the 28-year-old won the overall World Cup and silver at the World Short Track Championships. In April of this year, Keller finished sixth and fourth in the World Cup races in Brazil, and now she won the short track in Nové Město on Saturday and rode to third place in the cross country on Sunday.

After today's selections in mountain biking, 22 athletes are now part of the Swiss Olympic Team Paris 2024. Numerous further selections in various sports are planned over the next few weeks. The dates of all selections, which run until July 8, can be found on the Swiss Olympic website. Swiss Olympic is currently expecting a Swiss delegation of around 120 athletes.

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