Photo from Philcycling
MANILA, Philippines-Cyclists Ariana Evangelista and Mark Louwel Valderama pocketed a pair of bronze medals at the Coupe de Japon International MTB Race in Yawatahama, Japan.
Evangelista clocked one hour and 36.40 minutes and checked in a hairline short of the silver medal after Chinese Taipei’s Tsai Ya Yu beat the Filipino mountain bike ace to the line in the women’s elite cross-country Olympic category.
Evangelista, fresh from a silver finish in the women’s elimination race at the recent Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia, earned 60 Olympic qualification points for next year’s Paris Olympics.
She now has a total of 157 points and ranks No. 214 in the world.
Tsai earned 80 points while gold medalist Akari Kobayashi of Japan accumulated 100 points.
Valderama, meanwhile, placed third in the men’s under 23 cross-country Olympic category after reaching the line in 1:19:48 behind Japanese Tatsuumi Soejima (1:16:51) and Issei Matsumoto (1:17:27)
Valderama likewise earned 60 Olympic qualification points.