Caluag fails in BMX bid as PHL concludes London Olympics with zero medals

United States’ David Herman, right, leads Switzerland’s Roger Rinderknecht, second from right, Argentina’s Ernesto Pizarro, second from left, and Daniel Caluag, of the Philippines, left, in a BMX cycling men’s quarterfinal run during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines’ best hope in the 2012 London Olympics didn’t even come close.

Fil-American Daniel Caluag went out in a mediocre finish in the men’s BMX competition late Thursday, concluding another futile stint for the country in the last four Olympics.

The farthest anyone from the PH’s 11-man contingent got in this year’s competition was the quarterfinals, from Barriga to Caluag — both had a chance to move forward but fizzled.

A massive spill in the first turn of run 1 which took down all but one of the seven bikers, including Caluag, took the 25-year-old out of his element for the rest of the quarterfinals.

A fifth place finish was followed by an even more sluggish placing in the telling run 2, as he played it safe and didn’t get the momentum to surge ahead to end in seventh place.

Top two riders with the fewest score in the first three runs advance to the next round, and another set of heat leaders moved on after the last two runs.

With only two riders emerging with clear path to the semis, it was all downhill for Caluag from there as he wound up sixth in run 3, then second to last in run 4 and at the bottom in the final run.

New Zealand’s Marc Willers and France’s Joris Daudet of France came out on top in heat 3.

Caluag competed with bikers mostly from Europe and North America and was the only Asian who qualified in the competition.