ENDURING a left knee injury, former University of Mindanao (UM) standout Sonny Wagdos salvaged a bronze medal in the men's 5,000-meter run to end his 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games stint on a high note at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi, Vietnam.
"Wala jud ko nag expect sa medal, Ma'am kay one month ra bya akong training tungod sa akong injury (I didn't expect to win a medal because I only trained for one month due to my injury)," the 28-year-old Wagdos, born in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur, said in a Messenger interview.
He trailed Nguyen Van Lai of Vietnam and Felisberto De Deus of East Timor (TLS) who romped away with gold and silver, respectively.
Nguyen Van Lai clocked 16 minutes and 34.10 seconds, while De Deus followed with a time of 16:35.75, and Wagdos finished in 16:35.89 among 10 entries.
Wagdos, who also copped the men's 5,000-meter bronze in the 2019 Philippines SEA Games, said he got his iliotibial band injury due to overtraining.
All he thought of during the race was to finish it safely. "Ang makahuman lang gyud Ma'am kay basin man gud moutukar akong injury (I just wanted to finish as my injury might recur)," said the Airmen First Class of the Philippine Air Force.
He also said that the race was slower than in the 2019 edition where he timed 14:34.
"Nagbantayan raman gud mi Ma'am nya wala pud ko balak mu-lead kay basin mo sakit akong tuhod medyo ramadam paman gud nako ang akong injury. Sa last lap na gyud gibanatan na namo (We were studying each other at first and I did not plan to pace as I feared my knee injury would hurt again. We gave it our all in the last lap)," he said.
He cherishes his bronze, adding: "Bisan injury man ko, naka top three gihapon (I may have been injured but I still made it to the top three)."
Wagdos said he'll return to Davao City by the first week of June to spend some time with her wife Jezza and their child as he had been away from them due to his SEA Games preparations.
His amateur running career all started in the city. He has a vast collection of medals and titles from local, regional, national, and international competitions. MLSA