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Cycling at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games:

Men's Mountainbike, Cross-Country

Cycling at the 2008 Summer Games: Previous Summer Games ▪ Next Summer Games

Events:
Phases:

Host City: Beijing, China
Venue(s): Laoshan Mountain Bike Course, Beijing
Date Started: August 23, 2008
Date Finished: August 23, 2008
Format: 35.6 km.

Gold: FRA Julien Absalon
Silver: FRA Jean-Christophe Péraud
Bronze: SUI Nino Schurter

Summary

There was little doubt who was the favorite – Julien Absalon of France. Absalon was the defending champion and had won the World Championships in 2004-2007. The race was an eight-lap affair of 36 km., which was run in extreme heat. Absalon went to the front on the second lap and was never headed. He won the gold medal by 1:07 over his teammate, Jean-Christophe Peraud. The race for the bronze was close, as two-time Under-23 world champion Nino Schurter of Switzerland just edged his teammate Christoph Sauser by two seconds. Absalon’s gold made it three straight for France in this event as Miguel Martinez had won in 2000. One interesting competitor was Belgium’s Sven Nys. Nys was a multiple World Champion in cyclo-cross, which is a winter sport combining some elements of mountain biking with running cross-country over obstacles. Nys had difficulty with the heat in Beijing and placed ninth.

Final Standings

Rank Athlete Age Team NOC Medal T M
1 Julien Absalon 27 France FRA Gold 1-55:59
2 Jean-Christophe Péraud 31 France FRA Silver 1-57:06 at 1:07
3 Nino Schurter 22 Switzerland SUI Bronze 1-57:52 at 1:53
4 Christoph Sauser 32 Switzerland SUI 1-57:54 at 1:55
5 Marco Fontana 23 Italy ITA 1-59:59 at 4:00
6 Christoph Soukup 27 Austria AUT 2-00:11 at 4:12
7 Liam Killeen 26 Great Britain GBR 2-00:14 at 4:15
8 Iñaki Lejarreta 24 Spain ESP 2-00:21 at 4:22
9 Sven Nys 32 Belgium BEL 2-01:00 at 5:01
10 José Antonio Hermida 29 Spain ESP 2-01:01 at 5:02
11 Manuel Fumic 26 Germany GER 2-01:16 at 5:17
12 Oli Beckingsale 32 Great Britain GBR 2-01:25 at 5:26
13 Marek Galiński 34 Poland POL 2-01:29 at 5:30
14 Cédric Ravanel 29 France FRA 2-01:38 at 5:39
15 Burry Stander 20 South Africa RSA 2-01:58 at 5:59
16 Moritz Milatz 26 Germany GER 2-02:59 at 7:00
17 Fredrik Kessiakoff 28 Sweden SWE 2-03:09 at 7:10
18 Jaroslav Kulhavý 23 Czech Republic CZE 2-03:20 at 7:21
19 Roel Paulissen 32 Belgium BEL 2-03:30 at 7:31
20 Geoff Kabush 31 Canada CAN 2-03:55 at 7:56
21 Rubens Donizete 28 Brazil BRA 2-05:19 at 9:20
22 Ji Jianhua 26 China CHN 2-05:29 at 9:30
23 András Parti 25 Hungary HUN 2-06:00 at 10:01
24 Kashi Leuchs 30 New Zealand NZL 2-06:30 at 10:31
25 Jakob Fuglsang 23 Denmark DEN 2-06:41 at 10:42
26 Héctor Páez 26 Colombia COL 2-06:46 at 10:47
27 Dario Gasco 21 Argentina ARG 2-07:04 at 11:05
28 Carlos Coloma 26 Spain ESP 2-09:05 at 13:06
29 Adam Craig 16 United States USA at 1 lap
30 Yader Zoli 32 Italy ITA at 1 lap
31 Klaus Nielsen 28 Denmark DEN at 1 lap
32 Filip Meirhaeghe 37 Belgium BEL at 2 laps
33 Wolfram Kurschat 33 Germany GER at 2 laps
34 Rudi van Houts 24 Netherlands NED at 2 laps
35 Bilal Akgül 25 Turkey TUR at 2 laps
36 Cristóbal Silva 28 Chile CHI at 2 laps
37 Bart Brentjens 39 Netherlands NED at 2 laps
38 Emil Lindgren 23 Sweden SWE at 2 laps
39 Daniel McConnell 23 Australia AUS at 2 laps
40 Chan Chun Hing 27 Hong Kong HKG at 2 laps
41 Yury Trofimov 24 Russia RUS at 2 laps
42 Serhiy Rysenko 28 Ukraine UKR at 3 laps
43 Todd Wells 32 United States USA at 3 laps
44 Seamus McGrath 32 Canada CAN at 3 laps
45 Mannie Heymans 37 Namibia NAM at 3 laps
46 Kohei Yamamoto 24 Japan JPN at 3 laps
47 Federico Ramírez 32 Costa Rica CRC at 5 laps
48 Antipass Kwari 33 Zimbabwe ZIM at 6 laps
AC Florian Vogel 26 Switzerland SUI DNF (lap 5)
AC Robin Seymour 37 Ireland IRL DNF (lap 2)