Mia Guillergan erased the 1977 record in girls' 5,000m by 18 seconds.
Fil-Australian Mia Guillergan broke the world record for 11-year-olds in the 5,000 meters of the weekly Manly Warringah Little Athletics meet in New South Wales, Australia.
Pinoyathletics.info first reported the feat of the of 11-year-old Guillergan, who clocked 17 minutes and 41.03 seconds at the Narrabeen track to erase the 1977 mark of United States’ Kathy Kiernan by 18 seconds.
“I was so relieved because I have tried to beat it for a long time and I had gotten so close,” Guillergan said in an interview with Australian newspaper Daily Telegraph on Tuesday.
Interestingly, Guillergan’s mark was faster than the bronze-medal performance of PH bet Joida Gagnao (17:52.16) at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
Guillergan, born to Filipino parents in Australia, said her inspiration comes from her grandfather, whom she said almost made it to the Olympics. She hopes to make those dreams come true.
Guillergan’s paternal grandfather was Robert Guillergan, who represented the Philippines in the 4x400m at the 1962 Asian Games