Cycling – Mountain Bike

Sport Overview

Mountain Bike at Paris 2024

Venue: Élancourt Hill

Competition Dates: July 28-29, 2024 (Days 2-3)

Events: 2 (1 men, 1 women)

Trivia: Test your knowledge!

Though there are many specialties of mountain bike featured in international competitions, only cross-country Olympic (XCO) has been part of the Olympic program since Atlanta 1996.

Both the men’s and women’s events begin with a mass start of a circuit that is four to six kilometres in length. Riders will do several laps of the circuit so that a race takes one hour 20 minutes to one hour 40 minutes to complete.

Cross-country circuits must include a variety of terrain, such as road sections, forest tracks, fields, and natural or gravel paths, as well as significant amounts of climbing and descending.

Canada’s Olympic Mountain Bike History (Pre-Paris 2024)

Canada has won three Olympic mountain bike medals, all in the women’s cross-country event. The first, a silver, was won by Alison Sydor, a three-time world champion and nine-time world medallist, in the sport’s Olympic debut at Atlanta 1996. She went on to finish fifth at Sydney 2000 and fourth at Athens 2004.

At the latter, she just missed the chance to share the podium with teammate Marie-Hélène Prémont who finished second. At Rio 2016, Catharine Pendrel battled back from an early crash to come home with the bronze medal, finishing just ahead of teammate Emily Batty who placed fourth.

Canada’s best result in the men’s event came from three-time Olympian Geoff Kabush who finished eighth at London 2012.