Zoé Claessens wins first Swiss Olympic BMX racing medal
Zoé Claessens with Switzerland's first BMX racing medal
Keystone / Laurent Gillieron
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Zoé Claessens wins first Swiss Olympic BMX racing medal
Zoé Claessens is the first Swiss Olympic medallist in BMX racing. The 23-year-old from Vaud won bronze in Paris on Friday. Cédric Butti came fourth in the men’s race.
Claessens, who went into the competition as one of the favourites, was beaten by Saya Sakakibara from Australia and Manon Veenstra from the Netherlands.
“A dream comes true. Things didn’t go as planned at the beginning. I’m only now really realising that I’ve won an Olympic medal and made Swiss history,” said Claessens, a two-time European champion and World Championship silver medallist.
Claessens in action on Friday
Keystone / Laurent Gillieron
With bronze, the daughter of BMX pioneer Vincent Claessens, who built the first BMX track and club in Switzerland together with friends in Echichens in 1983, delivered what she had expected of herself. “Of course my goal is to win a medal,” said the otherwise reserved athlete in the run-up to the event.
Earlier in the day Cédric Butti narrowly missed out on a medal in the men’s event, finishing a tenth of a second off third place.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
More
More
Faster, higher, stronger, Swisser: let the 2024 Olympic Games begin!
This content was published on
On Friday evening 128 Swiss athletes will float down the River Seine in Paris as part of the opening ceremony for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Swiss voters are set to decide on a people’s initiative calling for better protection of ecosystems in the country. Have your say on the September 22 vote.
Swiss President Amherd’s historic visit to Mongolia
This content was published on
Swiss President Viola Amherd and Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh signed a joint declaration on future cooperation, marking the first visit by a Swiss president to Mongolia.
Apartment building prices rise, office property prices stagnate
This content was published on
Market prices for investment properties varied in the second quarter of 2024. Prices for apartment buildings continued to rise, while prices for office properties remained stagnant.
This content was published on
The TX Group had led a seed financing round for Helvengo at the beginning of 2022, which totalled over CHF4.2 million ($4.8 million).
Swiss duo wins bronze in Olympic double sculls rowing
This content was published on
Andrin Gulich and Roman Röösli clinched the bronze medal in the double sculls at the Olympic rowing regattas. Meanwhile, the lightweight double sculls team of Jan Schäuble and Raphael Ahumada finished fourth.
This content was published on
Sika, the construction chemicals group, is acquiring Vinaldom, a family-owned manufacturer of concrete construction products from the Dominican Republic, for an undisclosed price.
Chiara Leone wins Switzerland’s first gold in Paris Olympics
This content was published on
Chiara Leone became an Olympic gold medallist in the 50m air rifle three-position match. The 26-year-old from canton Aargau, who placed third in the qualification, was among the leaders from the start of the final.
Mityukov wins third medal for Switzerland at Paris Olympics
This content was published on
Roman Mityukov secured his third Swiss medal at the Paris Summer Games with a bronze in the 200m backstroke. Just two days after his 24th birthday, the Geneva swimmer gifted himself a belated present.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.