MANILA—Just a day after the opening ceremony, Claire Adorna won the the women’s triathlon for the Philippines’ first gold medal in the 28th Southeast Asian Games at the East Coast Park in Singapore.
Adorna defied an ankle injury as she clocked 2:13:08, while teammate Kim Mangrobang got the silver medal in 2:14.26. Thailand’s Sannuthai Arunsiri settled for the bronze medal in 2:22.08. Hometown bet Zhiyun eventually was forced to quit due to fatigue.
“I’m very happy because all my sacrifices paid off,” said Adorna, disclosing that she ran with a torn right peroneal tendon that had bothered her since the Asian Games.
“I really needed a surgery but I wanted to play in the SEA Games and win the gold medal,” said Adora, who was nearly in tears as she saw her entire family when she crossed the finish line.
With the feat, the Philippines is now in fourth place with a 1-4-3 medal tally, behind Singapore (10-4-7), Vietnam (4-1-5) and Thailand (3-5-9). Malaysia is fifth with 1-4-2 followed by Indonesia with 1-2-4 and Myanmar with 1-1-2.
“Medyo umalalay na lang ako kay Claire dahil sa run namin may injury siya,” said Mangrobang after completing 1-2 finish for the Filipinos in the event.
It was a rousing second place finish for Mangrobang, who trained at the elite training camp in Rio Maior, Portugal as part of her SEAG buildup. She had to be placed on a wheelchair after crossing the finish line.
“Claire is our Lydia de Vega in triathlon,” said proud Philippine Olympic Committee chairman and Triathlon Association of the Philippines president Tom Carrasco in comparing Adorna to the former Filipina track and field sensation.
u2018We were very lucky kasi mahina si Adorna sa run,” added Carrasco.