Sanchez surprises even herself after nailing third gold
BANGKOK—Even Kayla Sanchez can’t help but be amazed at what she has accomplished so far.
“I’m speechless,” the swimmer said after winning the women’s 100-meter backstroke in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games on Saturday at SAT Swimming Pool here.
With three golds and two silvers through the first four days of the regional meet, that’s understandable.
But Sanchez, who finished with a time of one minute and 2.35 seconds to edge out rivals from Thailand and Indonesia, knows that she has little time to savor her haul with more medals to chase in these Games.
“It’s been a long competition and I still have [five] more events to go, so I’m just taking it day-by-day,” Sanchez said. “I knew I had to go out fast and just keep it together and stay calm.”
Sanchez prevailed over Thailand’s Mia Miller (1:02.52) and Indonesia’s Flarence Candrea (1:02.60) to highlight a Day 4 that started with gold eluding Team Philippines in the morning until mid-afternoon.
It was in the late afternoon when the delegation finally struck gold, courtesy of judoka Chino-Sy Tancontian.
Tancontian ruled the men’s -100kg at Rajamangala University of Technology in Pathum Thani after pinning down Indonesia’s Gede Ganding to win via ippon, the highest score given in judo.
Birthday present
It was the 24-year-old’s second gold in the regional showcase after taking the men’s -82kg six years ago on home soil.
Another gold came in extreme skateboarding courtesy of Mazel Paris-Alegado in women’s park at SAT Extreme Sports Park, where she earned the distinction of being the country’s youngest gold medalist.
Paris-Alegado is only 11 years old.
She registered 79.72 points after completing three 45-second runs.
At presstime, Team Philippines posted 14 golds, 23 silvers and 47 bronzes, but good for sixth in the medal tally.
Host Thailand is way ahead at 91 gold, 53 silver and 31 bronze medals, followed by Vietnam (28-25-52), Indonesia (26-39-35), Singapore (15-18-24) and Malaysia (15-14-43).
Sanchez has been on a tear in these Games, starting off by taking the women’s 4×100 relay with Chloe Isleta, Xiandi Chua and Heather White before winning the 100-meter freestyle event.
A dent in her showing was a silver finish in the 50-meter backstroke despite setting a SEA Games record in the morning heat.
She also had another silver in the 200-meter freestyle.
“I was really heartbroken,” Sanchez said. “I felt like I let myself down, I let the country down. [But] the only thing I can do as an athlete is focus on the next event.” And focus she did. And it came on the day her father celebrated his birthday, the third gold a fitting present.
