NINO SCHURTER, THE BIG SWISS
Swiss cross-country ace and current Olympic XCO Champion Nino Schurter has been the standout male mountain bike racer of the last decade, not just for his amazing results but also for his clear-cut and uncompromising passion for the sport. Nino simply loves to ride and to have fun whilst doing it, which makes watching him in action a real treat.
We caught up with him at the end of the short and bizarre 2020 season, in which he should have been defending his Olympic title. Instead, much like the rest of us, he found himself re-aligning his goals and life to deal with a rapidly changing new world.
Steve Thomas: Roughly how many hours a week do you train?
Nino Schurter: Between 12 hours for a really easy recovery week and up to 35 hours for a really hard one.
ST: When you first started out how much of an influence was it having your brother to ride with?
NS: He was the best competitor I could think of. He’s a bit older than me, and even more gifted with talent - he was the one to hang on to. He indeed had a great influence in my early years.
ST: What kind of bikes did you start with, and what sort of trails did you first get into riding?
My very first bike was a BMX, because there were
