KIM MANGROBANG finished third at the Dakhla Sprint Triathlon Africa Cup in Morocco recently, achieving a podium finish for the second time at the Women Elite level.
With this finish, Mangrobang jumped 48 spots in the International Triathlon Union World ranking to 154th. This race is part of her preparation for the 2017 Southeast Asian Games and eventual participation in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Mangrobang came out of the swim in second place with the lead pack of four, which included Jenny Manners (Great Britain), Alessia Orta (Italy) and Greta Santosi (Hungary). This lead group worked hard to widen their lead going into the run.
A strong finish, however, by France’s Emmie Charayron saw her catching Santosi, Orla and, eventually, Mangrobang.
Manners hung on to win in one hour, five minutes and 56 seconds, followed by Charayron (1:06:28) and Mangrobang (1:06:41), who held off Orla, Sena Takahasi (Japan) and Santosi.
“Kim is progressing well and this is a good step toward qualifying for the 2020 Olympics,” said a happy Coach Sergio Santos, training director of the Desmor High Performance Camp, where the Philippine elite athletes have been training since 2014.
Mangrobang’s campaign is supported by the Triathlon Association of the Philippines, the Philippine Sports Commission and San Miguel Corp.
Claire Adorna, 2015 SEA Games women’s gold medalist, is also currently in Desmor and so is Nikko Huelgas, also the men’s gold medalist in the Singapore SEA Games, and Edward Macalalad.
John Chicano and Kim Kilgroe, on the other hand, attended Brett Sutton’s HP Camps throughout. Attendance at these training camps is in preparation for the 2017 SEA Games in Malaysia.