THE 2-in-1 Youth Olympic Games qualifying race and the South East Asian Triathlon Sprint Championship held in Subic yesterday morning resulted in contrasting results as visiting triathletes dominated both the boys’ and the girls’ divisions in the qualifying race, depriving local triathletes the chance to join the 2019 Buenos Aires YOG, even as Philippine entries John Chicano and Kim Kilgroe stamped their class in their respective divisions in the SEATA event.
Singapore’s Emma Ada Middleditch adapted well to the change from a triathlon to a duathlon event due to the inclement weather that also washed trash on the ACEA beachfront, forcing organizers to scrap the swim leg.
Middleditch clocked 1:01.44 in the 2.5K run-20K bike- 5K run race that attracted entries from 17 countries.
Korean Jung Won Lee came in second in 1:02.34, while China’s Xinying Yu and Meiji Lu took third and fourth places in 1:02.52 and 1:04.33, respectively.
Japanese bet Maki Uchida, who covered the distance in 1:04.55, placed fourth, while Hong Kong’s Hie Yee Chan took the last slot for Buenos Aires as she out-sprinted Filipina Karen Manayon in the last 100 meters of the final run leg. Manayon finished only six seconds behind Chan, who clocked 1:05.32.
Only the Top 5 finishers qualified for the YOG.
The race was also backed by the SBMA and the Philippine Sports Commission and sanctioned by the Asian Triathlon Confederation.
In the boys’ side, Japan placed three finishers in the Top 7, with Teppei Tokuyama emerging champion in 54:29. Another Japanese bet Kanta Ando finished second in 54:37, followed by Vhina’s Junjie Fan in 55:31. Hong Kong’s Hung Tiklong was in fourth place in 55:42, while the third Japanese bet, Yuya Otani came in sixth in 55:57, followed by Syrian Zakaria Alkarrat in 56:18 for the fifth seat to the YOG.
Filipino bet Juan Francisco Baniqued dropped his left shoe at the bike mount area and paid the price as he could only finish 13th overall.
Kilgroe, 28, was uncontested in the SEATA sprint race with her solo finish in 1:02.37, while Chicano, living up to expectations, led a 1-2 finish for the host country together with Andrew Remolino. Chicano clocked 54.54 to Remolino’s 55.38.