MANILA – Ariana Dormitorio continued her reign in the Women Elite Olympic Cross Country event after ruling the Brunei leg of the 2018 Asia Mountain Bike Series.
The Ilongga shrugged off being ill the whole week to move closer to clinching her third consecutive overall title in the 10-leg race.
Dormitorio, who failed to participate in the last two legs, defeated her closest rival Yayu Tsai of Chinese Taipei by almost 3 minutes in the 20km Women Elite Olympic Cross Country on Sunday in Brunei Darussalam.
She also maintained her 4-point advantage on Tsai in the overall rankings. The Taiwanese took advantage of the Ilongga’s absence to cut into the latter’s advantage.
“I am happy to be able to claim the crown here in Brunei,” Dormitorio said after the race, adding that she was still having a jet lag as she headed straight to the competition after attending a training camp in Switzerland.
Her head coach and father Donjie said the final leg was slated next Sunday in Tambunan, Sabah, Malaysia where Dormitorio will gun for a record third straight title.
“Ariana (Dormitorio) will go for the overall title in Female Elite category next week,” Donjie said. “She is very determined to achieve that since nobody has ever achieved that before in the Asian Series.”/PN
