By REYNALD MAGALLON
CAPAS, Tarlac – Tokyo Olympian Kristina Knott bagged the gold medal in the women’s 200-meter race even after stumbling at the finish line while reigning Asian champion Robyn Brown finally beat Lauren Hoffman in the women’s 400m hurdles in the ICTSI Philippine Athletics Championships here at the New Clark City Stadium on Thursday, May 1.
With the tracks a bit wet and slippery after a heavy rainfall in the evening, Knott seemed to have slipped on her own as she was about to reach the finish line, leaving the national record holder with some abrasions on his elbow, forearm and her waist.
She did win the race though as she was a full stride ahead of the closest pursuer before her fall. Knott clocked 24.12 seconds to take the gold while Jessica Laurence from Pinoy Athletics timed 24.25 to take the silver and Patricia Kuku from Papua New Guinea recorded 25.84 for the bronze.
“Maybe I’m feeling the jet lag, but my legs, they just were having a hard time lifting. So I’m like, oh, hurry up, I’m there. And then I fell,” said Knott who simply laughed off the fall after the medical personnel attended to her.
“And the rain doesn’t help. I fell and slid. It’s all over my whole stomach,” she added.
Meanwhile, Brown ended the reign of Hoffman in the 400m hurdles after timing 57.39 seconds, almost three seconds ahead of the latter’s 1:00.20.
It was the first time that Brown defeated Hoffman in the National Open after only finishing second to her in the previous two editions in Ilagan City, Isabela in 2023 and in Pasig City in 2024.
“It feels good,” Brown said of beating Hoffman, who represented the country in the Paris Olympics last year. “She’s a strong competitor and we already saw it through and through. But I feel we are able to race together finally and it’s been good,” she added.
Several Fil-heritage athletes also made heads turn as they hoped to land a spot in the national team with Miguel Anthony Rosario of Fil-Am Sports ruling the men’s 200m race with a time of 20.82 sec.
He defeated Niel Michael Catral of Pinoy Athletics and Sarawut Nuansi of Thailand who bagged the silver and bronze with times of 20.94 and 21.15, respectively.
Yacine Guermali also bested fellow national team member Sonny Wagdos for the gold medal in the 5000m race. He finished with 14:35.99 minutes against the latter’s 14:56.97 mins.
Janry Ubas, likewise, stamped his class and won the gold in long jump after recording 7.32m against the 7.27m of the silver winner Clint Neri and the 7.14m of the bronze medalist Kent Jardin.
