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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Fil-foreigners emerge as National Open's sprint king and queen

Fil-foreigners emerge as National Open's sprint king and queen

Published May 3, 2025 01:04 pm

At A Glance

  • CAPAS, Tarlac – Tracing and going back to their roots for the first time have led Fil-foreign athletes to golden finishes and emerge as the fastest runners in this year's edition of the ICTSI Philippine Athletics Championships at the New Clark City Stadium here, Friday, May 2.

CAPAS, Tarlac – Tracing and going back to their roots for the first time have led Fil-foreign athletes to golden finishes and emerge as the fastest runners in this year’s edition of the ICTSI Philippine Athletics Championships at the New Clark City Stadium here, Friday, May 2.

Jessica Laurance and Marc Brian Louis 

The 22-year-old Fil-Australian sprinter Jessica Laurance, dreaming of one day donning the country’s colors, ruled the women’s 100 meters while another half-Filipino, Marc Brian Louis, now representing Singapore, was the fastest on the men’s side.

Laurance, who is running for Pinoy Athletics, clocked 11.76 seconds to take the gold medal – certainly enough to attract attention as she hopes to get a shot at representing the country in the Southeast Asian Games.

“I am hoping to get to the SEA Games. I don’t know if I am qualified or not but that is my goal to come to the Philippines and represent the country for SEA Games so hopefully I get selected for that,” said Laurance, adding that she is already a Philippine passport holder.

It was now the second medal for Laurance in the National Open after plucking the silver and finishing behind Olympian Kristina Knott in the women’s 200m the day before.

Knott, however, did not participate in the 100m, likely as a precautionary measure after sustaining a bad fall at the end of her 200m race.

“I think yesterday we were pushing each other a lot and I really enjoyed running with her. It’s a new experience for me. I know she’s been running for a very long time so it's a shame that she didn’t run today,” Laurance said about missing the chance of racing Knott.

University of Santo Tomas’ Lian Pama bagged the silver behind Laurance with 11.98sec, while Hannah Delotavo of T.A.F.T. got the bronze with 12.25sec. 

Meanwhile, it was a homecoming of sorts for Louis as he bagged the gold right at the hometown of his mother after registering a time of 10.45sec ahead of 200m gold medalist and aspiring national team member Miguel Anthony Rosario of FilAm Sports (10.53sec) and Singapore’s Daryl Tan (10.62sec).

“It’s a good experience at the start of the season so it’s good to race against fast people and just get the competition that I need,” said Louis.

“It feels good. I think every year I will come back here to race, to meet my family here in the Philippines so it’s very nice being back,” he added.

In other events, FilAm Sports’ Elijah Cole cleared 5.25 meters to clinch the men’s pole vault gold against Taiwanese counterparts Huyang Cheng Chi and Wu Yan Han, who bagged the silver and bronze, respectively, with identical 5.20m.

In shot put, national team member William Morrison stamped his class and heaved 18.81m to bag the gold, while Ronnie Malipay ruled the triple jump with 15.77m.

National team members Kharis Lark Rei Pantonial, Bernalyn Bejoy, Hussein Lorana and anchor Robyn Brown also bagged the mixed 400m relay gold with a time of 3:29.86.

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