PH skateboarders win gold as Kayla Sanchez continues SEA Games dominance

Filipino skateboarders Mazel Paris Alegado and Jericho Francisco Jr. delivered gold medal performances for the Philippines at the 2025 Southeast Asian Games on Saturday night in Thailand.

Alegado, just 11 years old, made history by becoming the youngest SEA Games gold medalist after topping the women’s park event with a score of 79.72. Fellow Filipino Elizabeth Amador secured the silver medal with 72.03, while Thailand’s Freya Brown claimed bronze with 64.13.

In the men’s event, Francisco captured gold with an impressive score of 90.68. Thailand’s Konwit Ketkaeo finished second with 82.43, followed by Brian Upapong, who scored 74.75 for bronze.

Meanwhile, swimmer Kayla Sanchez continued her remarkable run in the biennial meet, claiming her third gold medal after ruling the women’s 100-meter backstroke. Earlier in the competition, Sanchez won gold as part of the 4x100m freestyle relay team and in the 100m freestyle. She also added two silver medals in the 200m freestyle and 50m backstroke.

Earlier in the day, Chino Sy-Tacontian delivered the Philippines’ first gold medal of the day by winning the men’s 90kg judo event.

Aside from the four gold medals, the Philippines also had the following medals:

Silver:

• Maxine Bautista (women’s figure skating)
• Merica Lillyn Chan (women’s taekwondo 62 kyorugi)
• Kenneth Riley Buenavides (men’s taekwondo 63kg kyorugi)
• John Viron Ferrer (men’s judo 81kg)
• Yacine Guermali (men’s 5000m athletics)

Bronze:

• Paolo Borromeo (men’s sigles figure skating)
• Nesthy Petecio (women’s boxing 63kg)
• Alwyn Batican (men’s karate 75kg)
• Jan Emmanuel Garcia, John Paul Gomez, Ruelle Canino, Paulo Bersamina, Darwin Laylo (chess, makruk mixed team standard)
• Jessica Canabal (women’s taekwondo 53kg kyorugi)
• Ana Bhianca Espenilla (women’s javelin throw)
• William Morrison (men’s shotput)
• David Cea (men’s taekwondo 74kg)
• Sonny Wagdos (men’s athletics 500m)
• Patrick Coo (men’s racing BMX)
• Zion Rose Nelson (women’s athletics 200m)
• Krisna Malecdan and Krizan Faith Collado (women’s wushu Duilian Bare-handed)

The Philippines currently sits sixth in the overall medal standings, tallying 15 gold, 23 silver, and 52 bronze medals for a total of 90 medals in the ongoing Southeast Asian Games.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News