PH’s Monica Torres clinches gold in SEA Games’ duathlon

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SUBIC BAY, Zambales — Filipina duathlon athlete Monica Torres delivered an early gold medal for the country on the second day of the 30th Southeast Asian Games here.

Despite suffering from an upset stomach before the competition, Torres dominated the women’s finals at the Subic Bay Boardwalk, registering 2 hours, 8 minutes and 44 seconds to win in the 10-kilometer run, 40-kilometer bike, and 5-kilometer run.

“Actually, wala sa kondisyon ang katawan ko (my body was not in a good condition). I vomited bago ang (before the) race,” said Torres, who topped the Asian elite categories of Powerman Asia Duathlon Championships for three consecutive years.

She defeated Thailand’s Pareeya Sonsem (2:11:18) and Vietnam’s Thi Phuong Nguyen (2:14:20) who settled for silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Torres is scheduled to compete again in the mixed relay category on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Joey delos Reyes settled for silver in the men’s duathlon event.

The 31-year old delos Reyes clocked one hour, 53 minutes and four seconds, behind Indonesian Jauhari Johan, who bagged the gold medal in the 10-kilometer run, 40-kilometer bike and 5-kilometer run race at 1:52:51.

Delos Reyes and Johan were running side by side in the final stretch of the race.

But in the last 600 meters away from the finish line, he slowed down and grabbed a bottle of water that gave an opportunity for the Indonesian duathlete to pull away and clinched the gold medal.