Yolanda Neff dominated the Swiss podium in the women's mountain bike race at the Tokyo Olympics, soloing ahead of Sheena Fry and Linda Indergand This was a surprising victory for Neff, who has had a long and painful recovery after a major crash in late 2019.

The Swiss rider later admitted that the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics due to the coronavirus outbreak worked in her favor; after suffering a ruptured spleen and collapsed lung in a crash in North Carolina in December 2019, Neff had not reached her best level by last summer. would have been difficult.

Neff's Olympic preparation took a further setback just six weeks earlier when she broke her hand on her way to fourth place at the Leogang World Cup. Like men's gold medalist Tom Pidcock, Neff shrugged off this setback and went on to great success in Tokyo.

"2020, of course, was not only my fall, but also Corona's year. It changed a lot of things," Neff said Tuesday.

"The fact that the Games were postponed was very good for me. The postponement of the race was very good for me, but I will miss not being able to race. But I missed the race a lot, and it was a long, long time.

Neff's hand injury meant she was limited during her final preparation for the Tokyo Olympics, but she was reassured by her experience when testing the course this week. She said, "I was able to jump jumps for the first time on this course. Finally, I've always had a good feeling about the course here, especially since the test event, so today I just wanted to enjoy the race."

Neff led from the start of Tuesday's race, but was up against longtime rival Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (France) in the early laps. She crashed in the uphill rock garden on the opening lap, effectively ending her challenge.

"Jolanda Neff went left, I went right. If she didn't brake, or if I didn't brake, we would hit each other. There were rocks and it was slippery, so I slipped off," said Ferrand-Prevot, who finished ninth. The title was decided right there. I don't know if I could have beaten her after that, but anyway the medal was decided there.

Neff offered a different take on the incident at the post-race press conference, criticizing Ferrand-Prevot's riding style on the descent just before the crash.

"Just before the part where she crashed, 20 seconds before, there was a big jump. She was in front of me and we were going about as fast as we could, but she braked really hard and I couldn't do anything," Neff said. I couldn't brake and I jumped with no speed at all. I was very lucky not to crash. It was a stupid move on her part. It was really dangerous for the people behind me."

"I don't know if she knew I was right behind her, but after that I just thought, 'I have to get away from her. I'm scared of what she might do.'

'It's not the first time she's done something like that, so I'm glad I'm not around her anymore.'

After Ferrand-Prevot's crash, Neff extended her advantage and with two laps to go, it was already clear that the Olympic title would be hers as long as she stayed on the bike.

"I admit that for the last two laps I was just trying to keep going and not think about it because I knew how big my advantage was. I admit that for the last two laps I was trying to just keep going and not think about it, because I knew how big my advantage was.

"I'm really happy it worked out. Everyone ran a great race. If someone had told me beforehand that we would make it one-two-three, I don't think anyone would have believed it. It's great for the whole team."