NAYPYITAW—Fil-Am Danny Caluag began the road to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics with a victory in the 27th Southeast Asian Games Wednesday.
Zipping through the rolling dirt course at high speed, the London Olympian topped the final ride of the men’s BMX cross in 31.994 seconds to beat his brother, Christopher (32.555), for the country’s second gold in cycling.
Bagus Saputra of Indonesia salvaged the bronze (32.825) in the 350-meter track made difficult by a series of jumps and obstacles.
“The ultimate goal is to go back to the Olympics. It was a fantastic performance and I needed more victories like this to keep me on track,” said the California-based rider after his first SEAG stint.
Ranged against the best riders in the world, Caluag didn’t figure prominently in the London Olympics.
“This is only the SEA Games and I didn’t have a hard time competing,” said the 2013 Asian BMX champion.
Caluag, who topped the three qualifying races at the cycling track near the foot of Mount Pleasant here, was ranked No. 1 in the US back in 2007 while Chris topped the 2010 US national championship race.
“My biggest motivation in this race are the victims of the supertyphoon,” said Caluag.
With the words “Pray for Philippines” emblazoned on the side of his jersey, Caluag said he would auction off his uniform after the race and donate the proceeds to the victims.