ALTHOUGH tipped as a strong stand-in for injured teammate Kristina Knott in the women’s 100-meter and 200-meter sprints, Fil-Am sprinter Kyla Richardson doesn’t want to put too much pressure on herself when she competes in the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games.
“I am not trying to put pressure on myself and just run. I am just trying to make it a fun experience,” Richardson said yesterday in an online press conference organized by the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association.
Richardson emerged as a strong contender to score a sprint double in the Vietnam Games after sweeping both events in the PacWest meet held over the weekend.
Competing for Fresno Pacific University, she clocked a wind-aided personal best of 11.31 and 23.12 seconds, respectively, at the Point Loma Nazarene University oval in the women’s 100 and 200-meter races to install herself as the athlete to beat in Vietnam.
Her time in the 100 was faster than the gold-medal time of 11.54 seconds booked by Vietnamese running queen Le Tu Chinh and compatriot Knott’s SEA Games and national mark of 23.01 seconds in clinching the 200m gold in the 2019 Philippine Games at the New Clark City Athletic Stadium in Capas, Tarlac.
Richardson is a timely replacement in the blue-ribbon sprint events for Knott, who announced last Monday she was withdrawing from the Vietnam Games due to a severe foot injury.
Chinh has likewise suffered a meniscus tear and won’t be competing, paving the way for Richardson to potentially duplicate a golden sprint double recorded by the legendary Lydia de Vega, who did it twice, the last in the 1991 Singapore edition.
Richardson, however, said is farthest from her mind.
“No, this season I just tried not to put too much pressure on myself and just keep on doing what I do,” said Richardson, who is in her last year of pursuing her Masters degree in Organizational Leadership at FPU.
She credited her maturity and Jamaican coach Robert Foster, a two-time Olympian, for he marked improvement in her performance.
“I am definitely grateful for my coach (Foster) who spent his time with me. His training really worked well for me as an athlete. After going through past injuries, I just wanted to do something different, I guess, where my potential will take me,” she said.
Richardson is keen on sharing the distinction of being the fastest woman in the SEA Games with twin sister Kayla, who achieved the feat in ruling the women’s 100-meter dash in the 2015 Singapore Games when the siblings made their debuts for the country in international competition.
