YOG aspirants clinch gold, silver in S’pore triathlon

MANILA, Philippines - Youth Olympic Games aspirants Justin Chiongbian and Vicky Deldeo delivered for the Philippines as they captured a gold and silver medal, respectively, in the 13-to-15 division of the Cold Storage Singapore Triathlon Saturday.

Chiongbian bucked a slow start to rule the 200m swim, 10K bike and 2K run race of the boys’ competition with a time of 25 minutes, 50 seconds, beating 39 other rivals. He reached the finish line one minute ahead of closest rivals from Indonesia and Malaysia, according to Triathlon Association of the Philippines president Tom Carrasco.

The young Cebuano placed only seventh after the swim leg but bounced back strong in the bike and run stages to snare the mint.

Chiongbian pedaled furiously to wind up as third place behind rivals from US and Indonesia in the bike stage then unleashed his running prowess and took control of the race halfway through the run leg to complete his triumph.

Chiongbian thus improved his third place standing last year and his winning time also surpassed by some three minutes the 28:05 submitted by 2012 ruler Muhammad Tareef Zakar of Malaysia.

Deldeo, for her part, showed guts in salvaging a podium finish despite placing fifth in the swim leg. However, Malaysian rival Zoe Natasha Bowden had already established a comfortable margin to foil the Pinay’s challenge for the gold.

According to Carrasco, Chiongbian and Deldeo both paid for their own trips as they sought to gauge their level of competitiveness for the coming ITU Hong Kong International Triathlon on Oct 26-27.

The two are also the country’s top bets for the YOG Triathlon Continental qualifying slated June 2014 in Kazakhstan, along with Jimuel Patilan and Magali Echauz.

“Chiongbian and Deldeo showed they deserve to be part of our YOG aspirants. Their performance is also a good confidence builder in time for next year’s continental qualifying race,” said Carrasco.

Patilan and Echauz were slated to race in the higher junior category.