By REYNALD MAGALLON
CAPAS, Tarlac – John Cabang Tolentino announced his return from injury in style, bagging the gold in the men’s 110-meter hurdles, while Robyn Brown ruled the women’s 100m hurdles to complete a golden treble in the ICTSI Philippine Athletics Championships at the New Clark City Stadium on Saturday, May 4 here.
Coming off a long layoff from a right leg injury that forced him to withdraw from the repechage of the 110m hurdles in the 2024 Paris Olympics, Tolentino was just ecstatic to be finally hurdling again, all the more, finally the adrenaline of racing once more after figuring in a neck-and-neck battle against fellow national team member Clinton Bautista.
“Clinton, every time, runs near me but this time he was closer than usual. It was like in the last two hurdles, I was like oh my god he’s there,” said Tolentino who clocked 13.96 seconds to beat Bautista who placed second with a 14.16s time
Tolentino’s win was overshadowed by Brown who dominated the 100m hurdles race to snag her third gold after also ruling the 400m hurdles and being part of the winning quartet in the 400m mixed relay.
Brown bolted out of the starting blocks and breezed past the hurdles to time 13.85s and beat foreign counterparts in Arisa Weruwanarak from Thailand and Yee Teng Lie from Malaysia.
Meanwhile, Far Eastern University’s Ronel Juntilla came out on top as the National Open’s Ironman after ruling the decathlon with 5356 points. He beat fellow Tamaraws Pacifiico Tolentino and Rolly Royo who settled for the silver and bronze.
SEA Games medalist Janry Ubas was also in the event but he retired after not running in the 1500m event. He was up by 1000 points by that time and only lost due to technicality.
University of the East stalwart Jeralyn Rodriguez bested national team bet Bernalyn Bejoy to snatch the gold in the women’ 400m with a time of 55.67s – split seconds ahead of the latter’s 55.98s time.
National team member Frederick Ramirez, likewise, finished second behind gold medal winner from Thailand Jirayu Pleenaram. The Thai runner made the run in the last 50 meters to record 47.37s and beat Ramirez’s 47.71s time.
