In 2016, Jenny Rissveds cycled into the hearts of many Swedes, when she – who was still a junior at the time – won the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
But the year after that took a break, which ended up lasting almost two years, due to mental illness.
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Was off the podium
She has also been part of the world elite after the break, but “only” took 14th place at the Olympics in Tokyo 2021.
But today, competing in the Paris Olympics mountain bike competition, she was back on the Olympic podium.
– It feels a bit like the circle is closing now, she says to Max.
She was in the first half of the race a long way from the podium, but about halfway she and the Austrian Laura Stigger caught up with the home cyclist Loana Lecomte.
Puncture for Pieterse
Shortly afterwards, Lecomte fell – and was then out of the medal fight.
As the distance to the two in the lead (Pauline Ferrande Prevot and Puck Pieterse) was almost two minutes long, it looked like it would be a battle for the bronze medal.
But with about a mile to go in race three, Dutch Pieterse suffered a puncture on the tailwind – inviting the four chasing behind (Rissveds and Stigger had then been joined by American Haley Batten and Swiss World Cup leader Alessandra Keller) into a fight for the silver medal.
Hear what mountain bike expert Alexandra Engen has to say about Jenny’s journey in the player.
Ferrand-Prevot’s first Olympic gold
On the penultimate lap, Rissveds and Batten pulled away from the rest of the bunch, and the duo were then side by side right up to the last kilometer.
Then, however, the American pulled away from Rissveds on an uphill – and Rissveds never managed to catch up, and it thus became an Olympic bronze for Jenny Rissveds.
– It feels so damn good to be able to just put in a good race this day. I have been through so much, she says.
– I still have a stomach ache as nervous as I was, says mountain bike expert Alexandra Engen to SVT Sport.
After the finish, she gave the silver medalist a long hug after their fight.
– One thing she emphasized about the trip is that she can treat others to success. It really looked like she was satisfied, says Alexandra Engen.
For gold medalist Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, who, to the delight of the home crowd, won the gold with over three minutes to spare on the other medalists, it was the first Olympic gold. Previously, she had a total of eleven WC gold medals in various categories.