MALVERN's Evie Richards battled hard to a seventh placed finish in the Women's Mountain Bike event in Tokyo on Tuesday morning. 

She crossed the line behind the trio of Swiss riders; Jolanda Neff, Linda Indergand and Sina Frei, Hungarian Kata Blanka Vass and Loana Lecompte from France. 

Richards was competing in her first ever Games and at just 24, she will have more to come but can be proud of a battling performance. 

There was a packed-out clubhouse marquee at Malvern Rugby Football Club, cheering their Olympian on from home.

Richards began well and was in the lead pack inside the first lap. 

By the second, she had worked her way up into medal contention and then briefly held second place as a group of six races ahead early on. 

Between the third and fourth lap Richards slipped back and struggled to remain with the impressive Swiss riders, who took control of the race and held all three medal positions. 

By the mid-way point in the race, Richards was in eighth position and around 40 seconds off the podium spots. 

She dug in on the fourth lap and worked her way back into it, taking three places back into fifth and was not giving up on finishing in the top three. 

The Swiss continued to dominate and were increasing their lead at the front as the 1,2,3 looked more and more likely. 

Malvern's Richards was battling hard but was finding it tough going and flitted between 5th and 8th position, before ultimately crossing the line in 7th.