AT A GLANCE
The Philippine team reset national records in women’s heptathlon and 4x400-meter mixed relay on Saturday, July 16, in the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.
The Philippine team reset national records in women’s heptathlon and 4x400-meter mixed relay on Saturday, July 16, in the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.
Sarah Dequinan posted a new national record in women's heptathlon. (Sarah Dequinan's Facebook page)
Sarah Dequinan smashed her own mark in women’s heptathlon despite finishing fifth, amassing 5446 points to eclipse her previous record 5381 points she made in the 31stSEAG in Hanoi, Vietnam last year.
The 4x400m mixed relay of Frederick Ramirez, Jessel Lumapas, Michael Del Prado and Maureen Schrijvers also broke the PH record by timing 3 minutes and 22.53 seconds.
Though finishing sixth in the race, the crew managed to smash the old mark of 3:23.69 set by Ramirez, Del Prado, Joyme Sequita and Umajesty Williams at the Cambodia SEAG last May.
Other Filipino athletes, however, were unfortunate.
Six-time SEAG champion Eric Cray came in sixth in the men’s 400m hurdles with a time of 49.76sec.
Though it was faster than his heat time of 50.39sec and semifinal time of 49.98sec, it was still not enough to land him a medal as Qatar’s Bassem Mohamed A Hemeida claimed the gold in 48.64sec, and Japan’s Yusaku Kodama (48.96sec) and India’s Santhosh Kumar Tamilarasan (49.09sec) bagged silver and bronze, respectively.
Janry Ubas also fell short in the men’s long jump, finishing seventh behind Chinese Taipei’s Yu Tang Lin (8.40m) despite mustering all his might in his sixth and final attempt with a 7.98m leap.
Bernalyn Bejoy also failed to advance in the women’s 800m semifinal after finishing sixth in her heat with 2:10.22.
