Jolanda Neff

Jolanda Neff (born 5 January 1993) is a Swiss cyclist, who primarily rides in the cross-country cycling and cyclo-cross disciplines, for the Cannondale Factory Racing team. She won the gold medal in the women's cross-country event at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Career

She was the overall winner of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in 2014 and 2015. She was triple Under-23 Mountain Bike World Champion (2012, 2013 and 2014). At the 2017 UCI World Championships in Cairns she became the elite world champion.

In June 2015, she won the first gold medal for Switzerland in the women's cross country event at the European Games in Baku. Later the same month, she went on to win the Swiss National Road Race Championships.

Neff won the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships in 2016 and Mountain Bike XCO World Championship in 2017. She also won the European Mountain Bike Championships in August 2018 at Cathkin Braes, just outside of Glasgow.

In October 2018, Neff announced that she would join the new Lidl–Trek team for 2019 in road racing, and Trek Factory Racing in mountain biking and cyclo-cross.

In July 2021, Neff won the gold medal in the women's cross-country event at the COVID-19 pandemic-delayed 2020 Summer Olympics. Her victory, along with her teammates Linda Indergand and Sina Frei winning the bronze and silver medals, marked the first all-Swiss Olympic podium since 1936 and the first time a nation has won all three medals in a cycling event since 1904.

Personal life

Since 2018, she has been in a relationship with American downhill mountain biking racer Luca Shaw.

Career achievements

Major results

Cyclo-cross

Road

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Mountain bike

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Awards and honours

Between 2014 and 2019, Neff was named as the Swiss female cyclist of the year at the Swiss Cycling Awards. She won the award for a seventh time in 2021, as all five Swiss female cyclists to ride, and win medals, at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Neff, Sina Frei, Linda Indergand, Marlen Reusser and Nikita Ducarroz – were recognised as joint winners.

Following her Olympic gold medal, a street in Thal was renamed as "Jolanda Neff Weg" in her honour in August 2021.