THERE was good news and bad news yesterday in the country’s coming track and field campaign in the 31st Vietnam Southeast Asian Games.
The bad news: Fil-Am sprinter Kristina Knott, the reigning women’s 200-meter champion and a top prospect in the century dash, won’t compete in Hanoi after suffering a plantar fascia tear on her left foot.
Also unable to make their SEA Games debut were US-based siblings Yacine and Said Guermali due to an injury and academic reasons, respectively.
The good news is that Fil-Am runner Kyla Richardson has emerged as a strong medal contender and reliever for Knott in the 100 and 200-meter sprints, based on her latest times in both events in recent meets in the US.
These developments were announced during an online press conference organized by the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association President Philip Ella Juico.
“I had been feeling pain in my left heel since January and it became worse as the months progressed so I had an MRI scan on it last April 26, which showed that I had a torn plantar fascia,” Knott said.
“This means I will be on crutches and won’t be able to run for two weeks so I and my coach Joey Scott decided it would be best for me to pull out of the Vietnam SEA Games,” the Tokyo Olympic Games veteran added.
“I really cried and was disappointed when I learned about it because I wanted to be with my team in Hanoi, but I have accepted my fate and will hopefully be able to train and compete in the world championships in July and the Hangzhou Asian Games in September,” the Miami-based sprinter said.
“I pray that we will be good enough by then so I can compete for the gold in the 100 and 200-meter runs in the Asian Games. That’s my main goal now,” she said.
Yacine Guermali revealed he was suffering from severe plantar fascitiis so would be unable to see action in the men’s 1,500 and 5,000-meter runs where he was expected to give regional rivals a run for their money.
Younger brother Said, a strong contender in the men’s 800-meter race, was also unable to compete for the Philippines for the first time because the SEA Games was in conflict with his studies.
Juico was saddened by these developments but was pleased to announce that Kyla Richardson, together with twin sister Kayla, would be back in harness for the country.
Richardson set herself up for a possible golden double in the women’s 100 and 200-meter sprints after clocking wind-aided 11.39 and 23.22 seconds, respectively, in recent meets.
Her time in the century dash is faster than the 11.54 seconds that Vietnamese sprint queen Le Tu Chinh did in the 2019 30th SEA Games while her time in the 200 is close to 23.01 seconds, a new SEA Games and Philippine record, that Knott posted in winning the event in her maiden appearance in the meet.
Boosting Kyla Richardson’s stock was the sidelining of Le, who suffered a miniscus tear, and won’t be competing in the Games, according to Juico.
