ONE athlete’s Olympic dreams are over while another has just begun.
This happened to fencer Samantha Catantan and triathlete Kim Mangrobang when they competed in their Olympic qualifying events over the weekend in separate venues.
Catantan, 19, who made a golden debut in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games and is making waves as a freshman at Penn State University, saw her bid foiled by hometown bet Yana Alborova in the women’s semifinals of the Asia-Oceania Olympic qualifying tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan last Sunday.
After being seeded No. 4 in pool play and drawing a bye in the opening round of the knockout meet, Catantan fell 6-10 to the top-seeded Uzbek in the semis and settled for the bronze medal.
Competing in her first tournament this year, Mangrobang, a back-to-back SEA Games women’s triathlon champion, wound up 11th overall in the Asian Triathlon championships, an Olympic qualifying competition, in Hatsukaichi, Japan last Saturday.
Competing against 15 top Asian women triathletes, Mangrobang clocked two hours, 16 minutes and 57 seconds, 8:47 behind Chinese champion Zhong Mengying (2:08.10).
Based at the ITU elite camp in Portugal for over a year under noted triathlete coach Sergio Santos, Mangrobang’s clocking was far inferior to her gold-medal winning SEA Games time of 2:02 two years ago.
National teammate Fernando Casares, who won a SEA Games gold in the mixed relay, finished 13th in the men division (1:57.40), more than 11 minutes behind Japanese winner Kenji Nener (1:48.59).
Currently No. 142 in the International Triathlon Union Olympic qualifying rankings, Mangrobang faces an uphill struggle in her bid to make it among the top 55 at the end of the Olympic cut-off in June to be eligible for Tokyo.
