PH snares 3 golds in HK Athletics Championships

(UPDATE) THE Philippine national athletics team claimed five medals bannered by three golds in the 2024 Hong Kong Athletics Championships.

Tokyo Olympian Kristina Knott, Lauren Hoffman and Hussein Lorana ruled their respective events in the May 4 to 5 tournament that offered Paris Olympic qualifying points.

PH snares 3 golds in HK Athletics Championships

Knott clocked in 11.52 seconds to finish first in the 19-athlete field of the women’s open 100m category finals, topping her heats time by 0.48 ticks.

Home bets Pui Kei Chan and Tsz Yuen Luo bagged the silver and bronze medals by clocking 11.82 and 11.86 seconds, respectively.

Hoffman, on the other hand, crossed the finish line in women’s open 400m hurdles in 57.15 seconds to top the seven-player field that included another Filipino athlete in Robyn Brown.

Brown finished second to Hoffman as she claimed the silver medal with a time of 57.59 seconds as Hong Kong’s Ying Wen Ashleigh MA pocketed the bronze with her time of 1:04.02.

Last but not the least, Lorana submitted a time of 1:52.11 to take the gold in the men’s open 800m event that has a total of 17 participants.

Meanwhile, Janry Ubas leaped 7.61m to clinch the bronze in the 14-player field men’s long jump, completing the Philippine medal haul.

Ubas finished behind silver medalist in Hong Kong’s Ming Tai Chan and gold winner in Taiwan’s Hua-Yu Wen who jumped 7.81 and 7.75, respectively.

The aforementioned Filipino athletes are trying to join pole vaulter Ernest John “EJ” Obiena at the Paris Olympics.

Obiena was the very first Filipino athlete to make the Paris Olympics this July. The 28-year-old trains and competes in Europe.