At A Glance
- Naomi Johnson reset the Philippine record while Hussein Loraña gave Team Philippine a silver medal in their respective events in the 1st Asian U23 Athletics Championships in Ordos, China on Friday, July 10.
Hussein Loraña, left, and Naomi Johnson. (Philippine Athletics Inc.)
Naomi Johnson reset the Philippine record while Hussein Loraña gave Team Philippine a silver medal in their respective events in the 1st Asian U23 Athletics Championships in Ordos, China on Friday, July 10.
The 21-year-old Johnson stormed into the women’s 400-meter final after topping her heat in 52.10 seconds, shattering the two-year-old national mark of 53.72sec set by Angel Watson, pending ratification.
The final is being held at press time.
Meanwhile, Loraña captured the silver medal in the men’s 800 meters with a personal-best record of 1 minutes and 47.65 seconds.
The Southeast Asian Games champion finished behind eventual gold winner Hatim Aitoulghazi of Qatar, who timed a season-best 1:47.05. India’s Shakeel bagged the bronze with 1:48.78.
Not only was Loraña's time faster than his golden performance of 1:48.80 at last year’s Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, but it was also 0.13sec shy of the seven-year-old Philippine national record.