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Triathlon's two-gold haul in Hanoi already matches goal with events still left, says sport's chief


Winning the men’s and women’s triathlon events didn’t come as a surprise for Triathlon Association of the Philippines president Tom Carrasco, who predicted to win at least two gold medals in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi.

Two of the country’s top bets — Kim Mangrobang and Fernando Casares — delivered for golden finishes on Saturday.

“Our target was to win at least two gold medals and right on opening day, we were able to deliver four medals right away, including two gold medals,” Carrasco said.

Mangrobang won the gold medal in the women's individual triathlon for the third straight time. She also bagged the gold in the 2017 and 2019 editions and her third achievement was a product of her training  in and out training from the semi-bubble because of the pandemic, according to Carrasco.

“She stayed in Portugal to train while Casares went home to Madrid during the Omicron surge,” he added.

Mangrobang finished with a time of 2:13:31, more than three minutes ahead of her closest pursuer, Indonesia’s Inge Prasteyo, who submitted 2:16:38.

It was the third straight gold medal for Mangrobang while another Filipina, Claire Adorna, won the event in 2015 in Singapore. Mangrobang was the silver medalist when she debuted in the SEA Games seven years ago.

Meanwhile, another Pinay bet, Raven Faith Alcoseba, came in third at 2:18:30, to deliver a bronze for the country.

Alcoseba, a 30-year-old competitor from Cebu, was the top finisher in the Subic Bay International Triathlon, which was based as qualifying event in forming up the team of triathletes competing in the biennial meet.         

It was a twin kill in the men’s side as Casares and Andrew Kim Remolino produced a 1-2 finish for the Pinoys.

Casares came in at 1:56:57 to top the 1.5-Km swim, 40-Km Bike and 10-Km run event.

Remolino submitted a time of 1:59:16 while Indonesia’s Ronald Bintang placed third with 2:01:35.

On Sunday, Mangrobang added another gold medal after winning the women's individual duathlon event.

It was the triathlon association's third gold medal in these SEA Games and the Philippines' 14th.

—JMB, GMA News