PH’s bet SEA Games’ fastest woman

HANOI – Fil-American Kayla Richardson stepped out of the shadows of her more illustrious teammate Kristina Knott as she crowned herself the fastest woman in the 31st Southeast Asian Games at the My Dinh National Stadium here Wednesday.

A slow starter, Richardson picked up the pace halfway through the 100-meter finals and held steady to the finish, clocking 11.6 seconds to master an 8-runner field that included 200-m queen, Singapore’s Shanti Pereira, who placed runner-up with a time of 11.62.

Thailand’s Supanich Poolkerd placed third in 11.66 seconds.

“I can’t complain. I’m so grateful. It took me a lot to get here. I thank God for getting me here,” said a teary-eyed Richardson, after sharing a sweet embrace with sister and fellow national athlete Kyla and father Jeff.

The 26-year-old Richardson only placed second in the heats with a 12.02 time, but it was a ploy to reserve strength for the race that mattered most.

“I was just chillin’,” said Richardson with a laugh. “I was just trying to get to the finals.”

With the win, Kayla, a bronze medalist in the 200 meters three days ago behind silver medalist Kyla, proved a worthy teammate to the injured Tokyo Olympian Knott, who failed to join the games here because of plantar fasciitis on her foot.

Knott became a darling of Philippine athletics during the 2019 SEA Games where she won two golds in the 4×100 mixed relay and the 200 meters. Knott, however, failed to win the century dash, which Kayla owns now.

Kayla’s feat was the fifth gold for the athletics’ contingent in the biennial meet, to go with Eric Cray’s 5th straight title in the 400-m hurdles, Ernest John Obiena’s record-smashing performance in pole vault, William Morrison’s shotput triumph and Clinton Kingsley Bautista’s new national record of 13.78 seconds in the 110m hurdles that broke his own 13.97 set during the 2019 SEA Games.

Meanwhile, Cray, barely 24 hours after winning a 5th straight 400-m hurdles title and a seventh gold overall in the biennial meet, failed to advance to the 100-meter finals, but the 33-year-old runner vowed to make it to the Olympics this time, which will be held in Paris two years from now.

In other results Tuesday, Sarah Dequinan bagged the silver medal in the heptahlon with 5381 points; even as Robyn Brown secured the bronze by clocking 56.44 seconds in the Women’s 400m Hurdles.