Knott, Hoffman hit double gold medal, Cray missed target in PH Athletics tilt

Records fall, then disappointment. Still, the country’s foreign breed ‘army’ showed some semblance of power on the track, holding off homegrown counterparts at the ongoing Philippine Athletics Championships on Friday at the Philsports track oval in Pasig City.

Kristina Knott and Lauren Hoffman—two of the country’s top US-based athletes who have the best chance to make the Paris Olympics this year—registered new marks in their pet events to claim their second gold medal each in the tournament sanctioned by the World Athletics as an Olympic qualifying event.

The 27-year-old Knott, who won the hearts of Filipino sports fans when she broke the 33-year-old record of the late sprint icon Lydia de Vega-Mercado in winning the Southeast Asian Games in Clark City in 2019, made another new mark, this time in the century dash, with a time of 11.2 seconds in the morning heat.

Knott shattered the 24-year-old mark of 11.3 seconds by Lerma Bulauitan-Gabito in the 2000 National Open.

However, in the afternoon Finals, the Olympian failed to beat his record time, running slower at 11.51, but she still won the race over Nur Aisha Ali of Sabah (11.95) and Angelyn Ortiz of Far Eastern University (11.95).

“I’m shocked. I felt I ran better this morning. I got surprised by the hand time,” said Knott, who completed a sprint race sweep after winning the 200-meter run on Thursday.

Likewise, Hoffman, 26, broke the women’s 400-meter hurdles mark for the fourth time this year with an astonishing 55.92 seconds, beating fellow Filipino-heritage talents Robyn Brown (57.27), who used to own the record two years ago at 56.44. Josie Inemedo of the University of the Philippines took the bronze (1:04.69).

“I’m a little slower, I think. My legs were a little tired, so I didn’t get the time I wanted, but a win is a win, and I was able to compete well, and I was happy with that,” said Hoffman, who broke the 100m hurdles record Wednesday.

Fil-Kiwi Mariele Venida, 18, shared the limelight, winning the under-20 women’s 100-m in a record 11.65 seconds.

The accounting major at the University of Auckland broke Kayla Kayla Richardson’s 11.70 mark in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games.

Nyadau Omilla of Sarawak was second in 11.95 seconds, with Isa Pangilinan of the University of Santo Tomas finishing third in 12.44 seconds.

But the big disappointment was Olympian Eric Cray.

The SEA Games multi-medalist offered an apology to the local crowd that had gathered to witness his race despite the hot weather.

“I’m disappointed. It’s not something I should run right now. The race itself is fine, but I’m flat. I don’t know what happened. Performing like this in front of a local crowd, I’m disappointed. I have to figure it out,” said Cray.

Cray finished 50.51 in the men’s 400-m hurdles, too slow for the Paris Olympic standard. Still, he won the gold against closest rivals Connor Henderson (54.12) and Yake Mengorio (54.43).

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