Fil-British Victoria Bossong and Hussein Loraña displayed their quickness to outshine their respective rivals and rule the women’s and men’s 800 meters in the 2024 ICTSI Philippine Athletics Championships at PhilSports Oval in Pasig City on Saturday evening, May 11.

Already getting used to the hot and humid weather, the 21-year-old Bossong dominated the field and clocked 2 minutes and 9.56 seconds to outlast national team member Bernalyn Bejoy (2:12.48) and Far Eastern University’s Susan Ramadan (2:17.88), who took silver and bronze, respectively.

A member of the Harvard athletics team, Bossong said her maiden stint in the tournament is part of her preparation for her upcoming NCAA regional stint in the United States as well as her bid to reach the Olympic qualifying standard for Paris.

“This week, I’m going back to Kentucky and will try my best to win the national championship. I’ll also do my best as well to hit the Paris mark, and represent this country,” Bossong said, who came close to hitting the Olympic standard of 1:59.30 after timing a personal-best 2:00.92 in a Florida tilt last March.

Meanwhile, Loraña timed 1:51.32 to rule the men’s side ahead of closest pursuers David Paul Matibag of Mandaluyong (1:52.34) and Oyamkerl Espinosa of University of Santo Tomas (1:52.63).

Loraña is gearing up for his next endeavor in Thailand and Taiwan after a stellar showing in Hong Kong Athletics Championships last week.

In men’s 4x100m relay, Sabah Athletics pocketed the gold medal with 40.86sec to beat Philippine Navy (42.04sec) and University of Mindanao (42.63sec).

Also taking the spotlight was FilAm Sports’ Sydney Yap, who heaved 59.42 meters in ruling the men’s hammer throw.

Other winners were Sarawak Sukma Malaysia’s Voon Pei Ling in U20 women’s shot put (11.64m), and University of Baguio’s Shiela Mae Domillies in U20 women’s 800m (2:31.49).