LAUREL, Batangas – Ariana Dormitorio missed the gold medal in the women’s mountain bike cross country race of the 30th Southeast Asian Games at the Tatlong Bungo in Barangay Niyugan.
Dormitorio looked on course to a gold medal before suffering a spill heading into the final lap and hit her head, allowing Dinh Thi Nhu Quynh of Vietnam to win the gold with a time of one hour, 36 minutes and 43 seconds.
The 22-year-old Dormitorio was heavily favored to give the Philippines its first gold in cycling, and she showed it by taking a 58-second lead over Dinh in the third lap, before suffering the crash. She did not finish the race.

“Actually, during the last part of the trail, I had a crash. That caused me to be dizzy. Knowing that other competitors are just at my back, I didn’t really take time to recover. I was really eager to win,” said Dormitorio.
Dormitorio apologized to the Filipino people for failing to win the gold.
“I’d like to say my apologies for the whole country for not winning it for you guys but this is my first SEA Games. Definitely for the succeeding ones, I will definitely train harder to bring pride to the country,” said Dormitorio.
Dormitorio said the course was actually suited for her.
“There are a lot of climbs. That’s kinda my forte. Part of the game, you can never tell how the end result will be. Despite what happened, I’m still thankful for the opportunity. Fellow Filipinos really gave their support to all of us and I’m very thankful for that,” said Dormitorio.
“The race course is very taxing since there are really lots of climbs. A crash can really make you feel dizzy especially the weather, it’s quite hot. It really happens. But definitely, I’ll come back strong,” she added.
Ca Thi Thom of Vietnam finished with a silver medal with a time of 1:44:19, while Avegail Rombaon of the Philippines took the bronze with a clocking of 1:48:54.
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