Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Norway)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Jenny Rissveds (Sweden) riding to gold(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Pauline Ferrand Prevot (France) was the only rider to record a DNF(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Perrine Clauzel (France)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Eva Lechner (Italy)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Maja Wloszczowska (Poland) leading the front group(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Jenny Rissveds (Sweden) takes a bite out of her gold(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Bronze medallist Catharine Pendrel (Canada) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Catharine Pendrel (Canada) on the podium(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Silver medallist Maja Wloszczowska (Poland)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Gold medallist Jenny Rissveds (Sweden)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Annika Langvad (Denmark)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Jenny Rissveds (Sweden) out on course(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Anne Terpstra (Netherlands)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Jolanda Neff (Switzerland)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
An exhausted Githa Michiels (Belgium)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Githa Michiels (Belgium) and Eva Lechner (Italy) after finishing the race(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Anne Terpstra (Netherlands)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Jenny Rissveds (Sweden) lifts her bike above her head to celebrate gold(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Jenny Rissveds (Sweden) cornering (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Maja Wloszczowska (Poland)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Eva Lechner (Italy)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Catharine Pendrel (finishing 3rd and Emily Batty Canada) 4th at 2s behind(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Maja Wloszczowska, Jenny Rissveds and Catharine Pendrel(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
The firstLap(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Rissveds, Wloszczowska and Neff took over the lead on lap 3(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Jenny Rissveds (Sweden) is Olympic Champion(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Wloszczwoska finishing in 2nd for silver(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Jenny Rissveds celebrates her Olympic gold
The women's field hits the climb ont he first lap of the Olympic XC race.
Jenny Rissveds celebrates her Olympic gold
Jolands Neff leads jenny Rissveds early in the race.
Jenny Rissveds navigates the rocks
USA's Chloe Woodruff
Australia's Rebecca Henderson competes in the cycling mountain bike women's cross-country race of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
The women's field gets underway for the cross country race.
Germany's Sabine Spitz competes in the cycling mountain bike women's cross-country race of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
The women's field gets underway for the cross country race.
The leaders on course during the women's MTB XC race at the Rio Olympics
The leaders on course during the women's MTB XC race at the Rio Olympics
The women's field gets underway for the cross country race.
Jenny Rissveds and runner-up Maja Wloszczowska
Sweden's Jenny Rissveds claimed gold Saturday during the Rio Olympics mountain bike Cross Country race, outpacing Poland's Maja Wloszczowska after the two set the lead pace over the second half of the race. Canada's Catherine Pendrel finished third to take the bonze.
Switzerland's Linda Indergrand set the early pace in the six-lap race, coming through first to start the second lap, followed nine seconds later by Wloszczowska, Jolanda Neff (Switzerland) and Rissveds.
Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Norway) lingered another four seconds back, followed by Emily Batty (Canada) at 23 seconds and Katerina Nash (Czech Republic) 24 seconds back.
On the second lap, Indergrand ceded her lead to the chasers, with Rissveds, Neff and Wloszczowska forming a new lead trio that took charge going into the second half of the race.
Rissveds led the lead group through the start/finish to start lap four, holding a three second advantage over Neff and four seconds over Wloszczowska.Neff paid for her efforts to keep up with Rissveds, however, losing contact with the Swedish rider and Wloszczowska.
Going into the penultimate lap, Wloszczowska led Rissveds through the start finish, with Neff falling further off the lead pace, and a trio of Catherine Pendrel (Canada), Emily Batty (Canada) and Nash chasing nearly a minute later.
Neff continued to fade over the fifth lap, with both Pendrel and Batty passing her, while Nash fell off the pace of the Canadian pair, who battled each other for the final medal spot.
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Starting the sixth-and-final lap, Wloszczowska led Rissveds through the line, with Pendrel chasing solo 30 seconds back, and Batty another eight seconds in arrears. Nash was in the fifth spot, 49 seconds down.
Rissveds powered away from Wloszczowska over the rocky technical sections in the beginning of the lap, and from there the 22-year-old Swedish rider smoothly powered over to the line and the gold medal.
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