CEBU CITY -- Samuel John Alcos, at 27, has indeed come a long way from that young boy who got into swimming due to asthma. He just captured his second gold medal in the ongoing Philippine National Games (PNG) 2018 at the Cebu City Sports Center here on Tuesday, May 22.
Alcos clocked a total of 33.95 seconds to clinch the boys 16-above 200-meter breastroke gold over Antonio Aquino IV of La Union Province who timed 2:39.41 and Paul Andrew Rioflorido of Dagupan City (2:40.04) who ended up with the silver and bronze.
A former University of Sto. Tomas swimming varsity scholar, Alcos said in a SunStar Davao Facebook Live that the 200m breastroke was the least of his favorite events.
"It was more on matapos lang ang race, medyo kilala ko naman ang competition," he said laughingly. Alcos won last Monday the 50m breastroke gold.
He plunges into action again today in his most favorite 100m breastroke. "I am looking forward to win my third gold tomorrow. If I stick to the plan, I will stay relax wag nang isipin kung mabreak ko man ang record ko," Alcos said.
He also shared how he got into the sport, "For me, it was because of my asthma at first but my mom said ipagpatuloy ko. Since hindi naman kami coming off from a well-off family, mabuti nalang getting into varsity saw me off to college."
Alcos then urged other Davao athletes still competing here to stick to the plan and follow the coach.
"That's what I've been doing for half my life," he said.
Meanwhile, Davao City's second gold came from arnis player Glennon Malisa who on Tuesday, May 22, competed at the Mandaue Sports Complex. His teammate Jonathan Mata copped a silver.
As of 2:30 p.m., Tuesday, Davao City was at 11 place with four golds, six silvers and 12 bronzes while host Cebu City was on top with 15 golds, 18 silvers and 17 bronzes.
Davao City's Diana Mae Memoracion also won a gold for Davao City in senior women's 800m finals.