August 25, 2008

Olympic Bronze for Nino Schurter

In an exciting finish, Nino Schurter won the Bronze medal in the Olympic Cross Country race behind French riders Julien Absalon and Jean-Christophe Peraud. In doing so, Schurter preserved the honor of the Swiss.

It was a huge step in the rapid rise of Schurter. “He is already the favorite for London, because he is still progressing”, said the 28 year-old winner Julien Absalon, who will attempt to win his third Olympic gold medal four years from now at the next summer Olympic Games. A medal for Switzerland's Christoph Sauser or Florian Vogel had been expected, while the 22 year-old Schurter was more of an outsider when talking about Olympic expectations. But those who know Nino know that he is a “competition guy” who can give his best performance at big events and that’s why his bronze medal was not such a big surprise. His attack towards the end of the race is also typical for his riding style and the favored Sauser had no chance to counter.

Vogel, who was the Swiss favorite going into the race, must have experienced one of the biggest disappointments in Beijing. Even though he managed to start in pole position and lead for the first two laps, he couldn’t keep up with Absalon’s counter attack. The extremely high speed of Absalon turned out to be a problem for other riders as well and one after another Paulissen, Stander, Hermida, and Kesiakoff lost sight of the French duo. Vogel really didn’t have any good luck: affected by the heat, he passed out and was taken to the hospital where he received an IV. Luckily he didn’t have to stay for long and after being re-hydrated, left the hospital after a few hours. This shows that success and failure are very closely connected. Vogel gave everything but unfortunately didn’t achieve his objective. Still, he can look back at his most successful season, which includes a world championship medal, the European title, a World Cup victory and the Swiss Champion title, proof of his talent and certainly something to be proud of.

For now, we are extremely happy about Nino’s bronze medal and the great success of the other team riders.     
Nino Schurter on his way to the Olympic bronze.


Scott also enjoyed success in the women's XC, as Scott rider Maja Wloszczowska of Poland 
rode a great race to earn the SILVER medal.