Cyprus And
San Marino Make History In Mountain Biking
MACHAIRAS, 4 June 2009 - The Mountain Bike event of the
XIII Games of the Small States of Europe will go down in
history as the event which saw memorable finishes for
Cyprus and for San Marino.
Hosts Cyprus saw three
of its athletes take the podium to secure the top three
medals in the event whilst San Marino saw Daniela
Veronesi become the first ever female athlete to take
the gold in the mountain bike event.
The women’s event was
introduced to the GSSE for the first time this year.
In the men’s event,
there was triple delight for Cyprus as Marios
Athanasiadis finished first with a time of 2:00.25.9 to
take the gold whilst Vasilis Adamou came in second to
take the silver with his time of 2:01:31.6. Their fellow
countryman Michalis Kitis came in third to take the
bronze after finishing with a time of 2:02:30.1.
"Our target was always
to make sure that own athletes got the top finishes and
we are delighted to have achieved it," commented the
Technical Advisor of the Cyprus Cycling Federation
Michalis Hadjioannou.
History
was also written by San Marino cyclist Veronesi after
becoming the first female athlete to take the top spot
and the gold medal with her time of 1:30:00.0. “I am
delighted and proud to be part of this historic event”,
said the smiling Sammarinese athlete upon finishing the
race.
The
silver medal in the women’s event was taken by Elina
Sofocleous of the Cyprus with her time of 1:39:31.5
whilst San Marino also took the bronze through Roberta
Monaldini.
