22 Aug 2016

Sport: Mountain bike fall ends Pacific campaign in Rio

10:48 am on 22 August 2016

Guam's Peter Lombard was the final Pacific athlete to compete at the Rio Olympics but failed to finish the men's cross country mountain bike race after taking a fall.

The 40 year old's race ended prematurely on the second lap, with Switzerland's Nino Schurter taking the gold medal.

Chef de Mission Joey Miranda III said it was an unfortunate ending.

"He was unable to get his foot back into the clip of the pedal and so while he was making that turn he actually took a slip and fell onto the rock area. (He's) a little bit banged up but he was able to get through with minor scathes."

Riders compete in the cycling mountain bike men's cross-country race at the Rio Olympics.

Riders compete in the cycling mountain bike men's cross-country race at the Rio Olympics. Photo: AFP

Joey Miranda III said Rio was a learning experience for the territory's five athletes.

"They gave it their best. One of them (swimmer Benji Schulte) made a personal record (in the men's 100m backstroke) so it actually opened up really well for us. The others, they gave it their all. Unfortunately for Peter (Lombard) it wasn't the kind of ending he wanted but we all learnt a lot from this event. Hopefully they will be able to use this for the future, either through more competitions or going back home and helping others with experiences from this event," he said.

As well as Benji Schulte's national record in the pool, fellow swimmer Pilar Shimizu finished 38th in the women's breaststroke heats, Regina Tugade ran 12.52 seconds in the women's 100m preliminary round but failed to make the main heats and Joshua Ilustre was disqualified from the men's 800m heats.

Guam's Benji Schulte will be competing in his second Olympics in Rio.

Guam swimmer Benji Schulte. Photo: AFP