MANILA, Philippines – It’s a birthday gift Francis Medina will remember. The 22-year-old engineering graduate of University of Perpetual Help won the 400-meter hurdles at the Vietnam Open at Ho Chi Minh on Friday, July 27, a day before his special day.
Leading with his left, Medina sped over the hurdles in 51.08 seconds, which marked the 3rd time this year he had been running in high 50s to low 51. He holds a personal best of 50.98 seconds.
Patrick Unso also won the 110m hurdles and later joined the triumphant 4x100m relay team of Eric Cray, Anfernee Lopena and Clinton Bautista in the last major athletics event before the 2018 Asian Games.
Unso, a medicine student, clocked 14.18 for the Philippines’ first gold in the tournament on Thursday, July 26.
Kristina Marie Knott, meanwhile, finished second in the women’s 200m with a time of 24.18 behind hometown winner Nguyen Thi Oanh, who registered 24.06.
Medina and Knott, along with Janry Ubas, were listed by the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (PATAFA) as last minute entries to the Asian Games in August in Jakarta, Indonesia.
While Medina ran near his best time, Knott placed 5th as she clocked 11.91 in the 100m, far from her personal best of 11.44.
Ubas also finished 5th at 7.52m in the long jump.
Marco Vilog took a bronze with a time of 1:53.83 in the 800m won by Southeast Asian Games champion Duong Van Thai of Vietnam. – Rappler.com
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