PH triathlon aims to compete in 2020 Olympics

Filipino triathletes (Photo courtesy of the Triathlon Association of the Philippines (TRAP))

MANILA – After bagging gold medals in the recently concluded 28th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, the Triathlon Association of the Philippines’ (TRAP) next goal is to get a slot in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“Let’s move to the next level, as our coach (Sergio Santos) would say,” TRAP President Tom Carrasco said in the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) forum.

“Beyond the SEA Games, our target is to make it to the top 200 of the world rankings and to qualify to the Tokyo Olympic triathlon in 2020,” Carrasco added.

It can be recalled that TRAP’s Nikko Huelgas won the gold in the men’s event, while Claire Adorna and Kim Mangrobang got 1-2 in the women’s event in the SEA Games.

“We’re thinking beyond the SEA Games… We approached the PSC (Philippine Sports Commission) to give us additional support to expose our athletes to high performance camps and high competitive events in Asia,” Carrasco said.

But why not join in the 2016 Rio Olympics?

“We’re not yet world ranked… There’s still a slim chance, but we have to finish either first or second to be qualified to the Rio Olympics,” Carrasco said, adding that no one for the 25-man pool ranked in the world’s top 200.

The TRAP, however, would remain optimistic, citing that the delegates in the SEA Games showed exemplary performance.

“We haven’t achieved this immediately. This is just the third time that triathlon was included in the SEA Games and we want to sustain our standing in the region… In 2017, we want to retain the gold, then in the [2018] Asian Games, we want a podium finish,” Carrasco said. “We have more chances in the Asian scene so we want to be in the top 10.”