Nathalie Jessica Schneitter (born 19 June 1986 in Lommiswil) is a Swiss professional mountain biker. Throughout her sporting career, she has won numerous Swiss national championship titles (both under the junior and elite category), and more importantly, a gold medal in the under-23 category at the 2008 European Mountain Bike Championships. Schneitter also handed an opportunity to represent her nation

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, and later rode professionally for more than five seasons on an exclusive sponsorship contract with the Colnago Team.

Racing career

Schneitter sought sporting headlines on the international scene at the 2008 European Mountain Bike Championships in

Sankt Wendel St. Wendel (; sometimes spelled in full as Sankt Wendel) is a town in northeastern Saarland. It is situated on the river Blies 36 km northeast of Saarbrücken, the capital of Saarland, and is named after Saint Wendelin of Trier. According t ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, where she held off a tight battle against Slovenia's Tanja Žakelj and Czech Republic's

Tereza Huříková Tereza Huříková (born 11 February 1987 in Vimperk) is a Czech professional road cyclist and mountain biker. Throughout her sporting career, she has won numerous Czech national championship titles in women's cross-country, road races and time tr ...

for the gold medal in the women's under-23 cross-country race, adding a silver to her early career resume from the World Junior Championships in Val di Sole,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Few months later, Schneitter qualified for the Swiss squad, along with her teammate and 2007 world champion Petra Henzi, in the women's cross-country race at the

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

by receiving one of the nation's two available berths for her team from the

Union Cycliste Internationale The Union Cycliste Internationale (; UCI; ) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland. The UCI issues racing licenses to riders and enforces di ...

(UCI), based on her best performance at the World Cup series and Mountain Biking World Rankings. At the start of the race, Schneitter landed on her head into the ground on the initial lap, but managed to successfully complete a 4.8-km sturdy, treacherous cross-country course with a career-high, fifteenth-place effort in 1:53:42. Shortly after the Olympics, Schneitter signed an exclusive sponsorship contract with Colnago-Cap-Arreghini Team for two additional seasons, followed by her short stint on Colnago-Arreghini-Sudtirol in 2010. In that same year, she defeated Italian rider

Eva Lechner Eva Lechner (born 1 July 1985) is an Italian multi-discipline cyclist, who has won at least one national title in cyclo-cross, road bicycle racing and mountain bike racing. She won the team relay at the 2012 Mountain bike World Championships toge ...

for the gold medal in the women's cross-country race at the fourth stage of the Nissan UCI MTB World Cup in

Champéry Champéry (; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Monthey (district), Monthey in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Valais in Switzerland. History Champéry is first mentioned in 1286 as ''Champery''. The Ho ...

, and later continued to flourish her mountain biking success by taking home the silver for her Swiss squad in the mixed team relay at the 2011 UCI World Championships. Schneitter sought to compete for her second Swiss squad at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, but suffered heavily with a shoulder injury from the bike crash that sidelined her Olympic bid at the final stage of the

UCI World Cup The UCI World Cups are the World Cups for cycling disciplines organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale: * UCI Road World Cup The UCI Road World Cup was a season-long Road bicycle racing, road cycling competition held from 1989 until 2004 ...

in La Bresse,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. She also affiliated with her former rival Lechner to lead Italy's Colnago-Fabre-Südtirol for three more seasons, as her exclusive contract with the team was officially renewed until 2014.

Career achievements

;2006 : 1st Karapoti Classic (NZL) ;2008 :

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

(Cross-country, U23),

(GER) :

UCI World Championships The UCI World Championships are annual competitions promoted by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to determine world champion cyclists. They are held in several different styles of racing, in a different country each year. Championship winn ...

(Cross-country, U23), Val di Sole (ITA) : 15th

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

( Cross-country),

(CHN) ;2010 : 5th Overall,

:: Stage 4 (Cross-country),

(SUI) : 7th European Championships (Cross-country),

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

(ISR) ;2011 : 1st MaillotSuiza

Swiss MTB Championships (Cross-country),

(SUI) : UCI World Championships (Cross-country, Team relay),

(SUI) : 5th UCI World Championships (Cross-country),

(SUI) : 8th Overall,

;2013 : 2nd Australian MTB National Series,

Mount Buller, Victoria Mount Buller is primarily a resort town on the slopes of Mount Buller, within Mount Buller Alpine Resort, an unincorporated area of the Australian state of Victoria. It is located approximately northeast of Melbourne. It is popular with snow ...

(AUS) : 9th European Championships (Eliminator sprint),

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

(SUI) : 11th European Championships (Cross-country),

(SUI) : 11th UCI World Championships (Eliminator sprint),

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; ) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban. It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The town was named in Zulu after King ...

(RSA) : 15th UCI World Championships (Cross-country),

(RSA)

References

External links

*
NBC 2008 Olympics profileCyclist Profile – Team Colnago
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schneitter, Nathalie 1986 births Living people Swiss female cyclists Cross-country mountain bikers Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for Switzerland Cyclists from the canton of Solothurn 21st-century Swiss sportswomen