Jolanda Neff analyzes her season, criticizes some behaviors, and aims for a future more motivated than ever

Swiss cyclist Jolanda Neff is one of the best XCO cyclists in the history of this sport, she has been World Champion in XCO and XCM, Olympic champion, or number 1 in the ranking several times, among other achievements, but for the past couple of seasons she has been plagued by health problems that she couldn't identify. Now, she analyzes her situation, criticizes some experiences, and looks to the future more motivated than ever.

Jolanda Neff reviews her 2024 season and looks to a promising future

Jolanda Neff is one of the most charismatic XCO riders on the grid, and with her victories and charm, she has won over all the fans. That's why even when her sporting performance doesn't allow her to be a protagonist in the competition, she continues to generate great media interest. This is exactly what has happened in the last two seasons when, for reasons that were not known until now, the Swiss rider has not been in the front positions where she was expected.

A few months ago, just before the Olympics, Jolanda Neff made some statements in which she talked for the first time about the cause of her low performance. Some problem in her respiratory system prevented her from riding at competition pace. She then stated that she had been suffering from this problem for 4 years and they had not yet identified its cause.

After withdrawing from the Olympics, Neff finally discovered that her problem stemmed from her vocal cords, which during efforts did not allow enough air to pass through to her lungs. The solution was to learn to breathe in a different way, and since June she has been working on that.

After that change, the last part of the season came in the USA, and there her improvement resulted in a 4th place in the XCM World Championship and her best position in this year's World Cup in Lake Placid. But bad luck struck her once again, and in the last race of the year, she suffered a hard fall that forced her to retire.

In this statement, she reviews her entire season, looks towards a promising future again, and criticizes those who only wanted to take advantage of her success: "you realize that you never mattered to them as a person"

"Thank you for the messages, luckily I am fine, I had an acrobatic accident in the last third of the race and it took me a couple of minutes to figure out where the sky and the ground were, when I did I had been taken off the track. I was incredibly lucky to get out of there and still be able to join the party and, above all, start a good off-season being completely healthy.

How to summarize the season... it has been an incredibly disappointing year on many levels. I had a fantastic winter where I could train hundreds of hours and progress very well, I arrived at the season feeling incredible. However, in the first race, in February in Spain, I couldn't breathe and couldn't even show half of what I was capable of doing. Unfortunately, it took until June to realize what was happening, but LUCKILY I realized it all. How many years has that been happening...? No idea. I took a break from training to properly work on my breathing. This meant missing the Olympics, and it meant running the rest of the season losing the 8 months of riding and racing where I built my form, I knew it, but it was still important for me to compete again. I was breathing WELL, but my legs were still not up to par, which was logical. I raced in the top 15 in the World Cup. I am back in shape and with a good winter of training, I wish for nothing else but to let my legs have some amazing races next year.

When you stop winning, some people start treating you differently and you realize that they never cared about you as a person, they just like to be part of your shining success. I must say that it hurt a lot and it was what made this year so painfully crazy.

I am very grateful to the people who supported me, my parents, my sister, my brother, and my love Luca, my incredible friends, and all the kind people who are happy to see me. You mean more to me than you will ever know.

The great news for me this year is that I feel like I am back in the driver's seat of my life (that is, I can breathe), and this feels like unlocking the next level in Mario Supercart, the future is here and I can't wait to live in it."