Athletics

‘Super grateful’ Knott rules 100m after yearlong layoff

Rio Deluvio

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

‘Super grateful’ Knott rules 100m after yearlong layoff

STILL GOLDEN. Kristina Knott (center) easily pulls ahead of the pack.

RIO DELUVIO/RAPPLER

Olympian Kristina Knott flashes her winning form in her first race back, but says she’s still ‘dusting off some rust’

ISABELA Philippines – Kristina Knott made a triumphant return to the Philippine Athletics Championships, ruling in the 100m event on Saturday, March 25, after a yearlong injury layoff.  

Clocking 11.87 seconds, Knott felt good about her first race in 11 months.

“It was good. I’m super grateful that I was able to run two healthy races since this was my first competition back after my injury,” said the Filipino-American Olympian.

“We’re just dusting off some rust because it’s been a long time since I competed.” 

Knott said she came ready in the finals after what seemed like a lackluster start in the tournament. 

“For the finals, it was definitely to get out because I was a little bit too passive in the first round. But me and my coach [Joey Scott], we had a plan going in,” she said.

Unfortunately, Knott’s training partner, Kayla Richardson – the reigning Southeast Asian Games 100m champion – was unable to qualify for the finals due to a right quad injury sustained during the heats.

“It kind of sucks that she’s down right now because she’s an important leg on our [4x100m relay]. But I know she’ll go back home. We have time,” said Knott.

“[The SEA Games is] in May, so she has time to recover and stuff. But I really wish that she was here in the heat with me.”

The 27-year-old sprinter said she needs to train for the next three weeks to join the Japanese Grand Prix on April 21-22, weeks before the regional meet. 

Knott also aims to amass more points to qualify for next year’s Paris Olympics. 

“We’re trying to work on the points, but mainly me and my coach’s goal is to qualify with the time so we don’t have to stress about the points,” the Tokyo Olympian explained.

In other events,  the men’s pole vault may be shaping into an interesting showdown on Sunday afternoon. 

Hokett Delos Santos, the pride of Ilagan City toting a personal best of 5.10 meters, will go up against several “Fil-Heritage” players as they vie for a lone SEA Games berth since national pole vault star EJ Obiena already secured a spot. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!