Malaysian edges Araullo in triathlon

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Kimberley Yap Fui Li of Malaysia became the first woman triathlon champion of the Southeast Asian Games, beating Filipino bet Alessandra Araullo and youthful Alisa Ng Xinyi of Singapore for the gold medal.

Yap clocked 2:14:39, winning the event by nearly one and a half minutes. Araullo settled for silver in 2:15:59.87 while the 16-year-old Ng finished at 2:21:57.49 for the bronze.

Araullo, however, clocked the fastest times in bike and run legs of the event, with 1:10:36.89 and 0:44:58.69 respectively.

Li, meanwhile, gained an advantage of 3 minutes and 36 seconds against Araullo in swimming, finishing the 1.5 km distance in 19 minutes and four seconds. Araullo clocked in 22:40:52 while Ng finished the swim event at 22:44:49.

The other Philippine bet, Ani Karina de Leon, was running third behind Araullo but suffered muscle cramps after the first lap of the running event. She finished fourth overall in 2:25:17:41, followed by Songsiri Phocharoen of Thailand, with 2:25:40:16, and Elaine Chan Mei Xian, with 2:29:28:36 in that order.

The women’s triathlon took the competitors to a 1.5-kilometer swim, followed by a 40-kilometer bike, and a 10-kilometer run.