Christine Hallasgo captured gold in the women’s marathon at the ongoing Southeast Asian Games yesterday at New Clark City in Capaz, Tarlac. The Bukidnon native clocked in with a time of 2:56:56 and beat 2017 gold medalist Mary Joy Tabal, who finished at 2:58:49.
“Nagpapasalamat ako sa Panginoon kasi nakuha ko ng last one lap, kinaya ko pa po—hindi ko in-expect ito  (I am thankful to the Lord because, in the final lap, I knew I could go further—I didn’t expect it),” Hallasgo said. “Tinignan ko lang kung sino’ng nasa una sa akin, nag-focus ako na baka maabutan ko (I thought, whoever is in front of me, I focused on catching up).”
In martial arts events, Mark Striegl and Chino Sy each won gold medals in Sambo, while Patrick Manicad and Jose Mondejar III each won bronze. Sambo is a combat sport developed by the Soviet military. In addition, in judo, Mariya Takahashi won gold while Gilbert Ramirez took silver.
The Philippines also swept the obstacle course racing events with Mervin Guarte and Sherwin Managil winning gold and silver, respectively; while Sandi Abraham and Gloriem Merisco took first and second place on the ladies’ side.
In other results, Michael Comaling won gold in beach triathlon; Bianca Pagdanganan captured gold in golf, winning the individual category; after earlier winning gold, Jermyn Prado took silver in cycling; Hermie Macaranas won silver in 100-meter freestyle canoe racing, while the men’s team won bronze; swimmers Nicole Oliva, Jasmine Alkhaldi, Xiandi Chua, and Remedy Rule won a bronze in 4×200 meter relay; and tennis players Alberto Lim, Jr. and Jeson Patrombon took bronze./ASC, WDJ