Cyprus and San Marino make history in mountain biking

The Mountain Bike event of the XIII Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) 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 2.01.31.06 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 has always been to make sure that our 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.