NEW CLARK City—Ernest John Obiena made it look so easy and so did Kristina Knott as they partied on Saturday night with record-setting performances in 30th SEA Games athletics at the Athletics Stadium.
With the stadium lights providing a majestic glow to the 20,000-seat venue, the crowd—majority from nearby provinces and some from as far as Metro Manila and Southern Luzon—were treated to a show of force by the host nation.
In the sport where six to 12 gold medals are projected to be harvested by the host athletes, Obiena and Knott joined marathon winner Christine Hallasgo in digging up gold medals by topping the men’s pole vault and women’s 200 m, respectively.
The Tokyo Olympics-bound Obiena cleared 5.45 meters—way short of his personal-best and national record of 5.81 m—to clinch the gold and break the Games record of 5.35 m set by Porranot Purahong of Thailand in 2017 in Kuala Lumpur.
The 24-year-old Obiena, handled by renowned Ukrainian Coach Vitaly Petrov, needed just one attempt to set a new record.
After clearing 5.45 m, he raised the bar to 5.55 m but failed thrice.
Purahong pocketed the silver medal with 5.20, while Malaysian Iskandar Alwi completed the podium with 5.00 m.
It was a similar case in the women’s 200 m as Knott made her ascent to the record books with relative ease.
The Filipino-American clocked 23.07 seconds in the morning heats, enough to shatter Zion Corrales-Nelson’s 23.16 seconds record set last May.
In the finals, Knott blazed from the blocks and made everyone eat dust from the curve for a solo finish at 23.01 seconds. She beat Thai Supavadee Khawpeag’s record of 23.30 seconds she set in 2001.
Tu Chinh Le of Vietnam had a season best 23.45 seconds for the silver medal, while Shanti Verenica Pereira of Singapore settled for bronze with 23.77 seconds.
“I was trying to go for the Olympic time but failed. At least I got gold from it,” Knott said after missing the Olympic qualifying standard of 22.80 seconds.
“I have until June 2020. I was hoping to do it here. Hopefully I get funded now so I can train somewhere,” she added. Knott will go for Lydia de Vega’s long-standing 100 m record of 11.28 on Sunday.
Image credits: Roy Domingo