Potential never fully exploited

In past Olympic cross-country races, the potential was often not fully exploited. This is set to change on July 27 and 28, 2020 in Tokyo, when three men and three women will represent Switzerland at the Olympic Games.

"Overall, we never achieved what would have been possible at the last Games," says Thomas Peter, Head of Competitive Sports at Swiss Cycling.
Flashback: While the Swiss men have won a medal at each of the last three events, the women have come away empty-handed every time since 2000. There is clearly a medal in it and a second is also possible, the latter also for the men.

More success thanks to relaxed criteria

One measure to increase chances is to relax the selection criteria, explains Peter: "Our aim is to make the selection criteria simpler, i.e. a higher result that several riders can achieve. In this way, we want to reduce the pressure to perform during the selection phase and then be able to take along the best qualifiers who are well prepared."

All World Cup races in the 2019 season, the World Championships plus the 2020 World Cup opener in Nove Mesto count as selection races. A top 10 result in both the men's and women's races counts as a criterion, after which soft criteria are used to decide who travels to Tokyo. These soft criteria include, for example, the form curve or generally who has the best maps to succeed in Tokyo.

The Olympic squad is named after the World Cup in Nove Mesto, i.e. earlier than in other years. This has the advantage that all six selected riders can prepare for the Olympic races at an early stage and not just the top seeds as in the past.

For the men, the strategy with the relaxed criteria seems to be working well. Since the World Cup opener in Albstadt, six riders have met the criteria - a large selection for Swiss Cycling. And one to three more riders have the potential to meet the criteria.
In the women's race, three riders have so far cracked the limit. But more are likely to be added here too.

A Swiss on the top step of the podium - what more could you want? According to Swiss Cycling, it should be at least one more medal - the potential is definitely there. Photo © Armin Küstenbrück / Ego Promotion

Great expenses for perfect preparation

However, the lowered selection hurdle is only a small piece in the big pre-Olympic puzzle. During the preparations, the heat that prevails in Tokyo will be a major issue. However, the temperatures will be lower during the test event in October, which is why a cross-comparison will be made with the road race, says Thomas Peter. "It is important to sensitize the riders to this issue. We find out how many days before the competition they need to arrive in order to be optimally acclimatized for the race, and we also pay attention to cooling."

Swiss Cycling also has a heat laboratory in which conditions of up to 45 degrees Celsius and 100 percent humidity can be simulated. This should significantly reduce the acclimatization time, which means less energy loss after arrival and more efficient training and recovery on site.

Work is also continuing on the issue of rolling resistance. "We have made further progress here thanks to the latest investigations. Further tests will be carried out in the fall, but these are secret," Peter continues. Further measures will be determined after the test event in October.