The women's cross-country mountain biking at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place at the Laoshan Mountain Bike Course on August 23, 2008.
Germany's Sabine Spitz opened up a commanding, one-minute lead from the rest of the field and then stayed out in front to a spectacular finish with a gold-medal time in 1:45:11. Trailing behind the leader by more than forty seconds, Poland's Maja Włoszczowska took home the silver in 1:45:52, while Russian rider Irina Kalentieva held off a tight battle with Canada's Catharine Pendrel down the final lap to grab the bronze in 1:46:28. Among the 30 mountain bikers who competed in the cross-country race, only eighteen of them managed to complete the full distance.
Competition format The competition began at 10:00 am with a mass-start in which riders are positioned according to their current world ranking so that the higher-ranked riders are near the front. The cross-country race also involved six laps, with 172 m of elevation change for each, around the 4.45 km course at Laoshan Mountain Bike Course. The overall distance of the race was 26.70 km.
Schedule All times are China standard time (UTC+8) Date Time RoundSaturday, 23 August 2008 10:00 Final
Result Rank Rider Country Time Sabine Spitz 1:45:11 Maja Włoszczowska 1:45:52 Irina Kalentieva 1:46:284 Catharine Pendrel 1:46:375 Ren Chengyuan 1:47:406 Petra Henzi 1:48:417 Mary McConneloug 1:50:348 Georgia Gould 1:50:519 Rosara Joseph 1:51:0710 Aleksandra Dawidowicz 1:51:2111 Elisabeth Osl 1:51:3912 Liu Ying 1:52:0113 Lene Byberg 1:53:1914 Elsbeth van Rooy-Vink 1:53:3015 Nathalie Schneitter 1:53:4216 Eva Lechner 1:58:2217 Laurence Leboucher 2:00:5518 Adelheid Morath 2:02:2519 Jaqueline Mourão (1 lap)20 Rie Katayama (1 lap)21 Blaža Klemenčič (1 lap)22 Yolande Speedy (2 laps)23 Vera Andreeva (2 laps)24 Janka Števková (2 laps)25 Dellys Starr (2 laps)26 Francisca Campos (2 laps) Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå Margarita Fullana Marie-Hélène Prémont Tereza Huříková
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