"It is easier to be in the Top 10 of the Olympics than among the top 15 in the World Cup": Fluckiger reflects on the new season

The Swiss Mathias Fluckiger is currently number 1 in the UCI ranking thanks to the tremendous consistency he achieved again after a 2022 marked by an unfair suspension. Now a new season begins and he reflects on the selection criteria that will be followed for the upcoming Paris Olympics, where he has the difficult task of improving the silver medal he won in Tokyo.

Mathias Fluckiger criticizes the current selection criteria for the Olympics

On his website, Mathias has shared an article that he wrote for the Swiss website Fit for life, where he explains how his season will start, with two major training camps in Gran Canaria and South Africa, before making his debut at the first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup 2024 event in Brazil.

In this article, it is interesting to read how Fluckiger reflects on the extra difficulty that Swiss mountain bikers have in securing an Olympic spot, as Switzerland has the highest XCO level in the world but only has the same number of spots as many lower-level countries.

"Of course, Switzerland's special situation creates pressure, because in no other country is qualifying for the Olympic Games so difficult. Switzerland is number 1 in the country ranking, but unfortunately there are only two spots per country for Paris. On the one hand, I can understand that the International Olympic Committee wants to include as many sports as possible and therefore has to limit the spots, but at the same time, I believe it is a shame that this regulation cannot ensure that the best cyclists in the world are at the start line.

The result is that the most important race in this sport will not have the best quality. Currently, seven Swiss riders are among the top 30 in the UCI ranking. With Nino Schurter, Lars Forster, and myself, there are three Swiss riders in the top 6 of the ranking. And for example, there are several Swiss riders capable of winning World Cup races, but only two of them will be able to be in Paris. That is regrettable.

The Olympic Games are the pinnacle of every athlete's career and the best possible sporting quality should be guaranteed. However, this is not possible under the current criteria. So it will be easier to make the top 10 at the Olympic Games than the top 15 in a World Cup race, which is strange. At least the top 30 in the world should be able to compete in the Olympic Games. Could these criteria call into question the importance of this event in the future?"

There is no doubt that what Mathias Fluckiger raises has a logical reasoning and we will see if this type of criticism leads to changes in the criteria for future editions. But it is a dilemma that seems to be overcome in other sports such as athletics, where if a selection were made as the Swiss proposes, in the Olympic marathon event there would practically only be Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes.