COMPETITIONS are being lined up for Asian women’s 400-meter hurdles champion Robyn Brown and teammate Lauren Hoffman to boost their chances of qualifying for the Paris Olympic Games, according to former national pole vault standout and Barcelona Olympian Ed Lasquete.
“I am personally arranging their (Brown’s and Hoffman’s) competition schedules here in the US,” said Lasquete of the two athletes who saw action for the country in the Hangzhou Asian Games last year.
Brown and Hoffman are among the athletes backed by FilAm Sports, a group that Lasquete helped form to scout, train and support promising track and field athletes with Filipino blood in the US.
A former Duke University varsity mainstay, Hoffman has a personal best of 55.47 seconds in the women’s 400-meter hurdles, less than a second off the Olympic qualifying time of 54.85 seconds while Brown’s fastest time in the event is 56.15 seconds.
Hoffman set a new national indoor record in the women’s 600-meter event, clocking one minute and 30.33 seconds in placing second in the recent Hokie Invitational meet in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Lasquete, a three-time Southeast Asian Games men’s pole vault champ from 1991 to 1995, said he is also looking at the possibility of forming a 4×400-meter women’s relay team to partner with Brown and Hoffman that could also make a run for qualifying for the Paris Olympics.
“We have a few to choose from to join Roby like the Richardson siblings, Kyla and Kayla, and Zion Corrales-Nelson is back competing again,” Lasquete noted.
“The struggle will be to race them together for the qualification entry. We will attempt to race in the US when the outdoor season starts late February,” he said, adding that he expects a majority of the Fil-Am athletes under his wings to be back for the Philippine Athletics Championships in May.
Also keen on renewing his Olympic bid is back-to-back Southeast Asian Games men’s shot put champion Willie Morrison III, who showed on his Instagram account he was thick in training, including lifting heavy weights and a video of his latest heave.
“Opened my 2024 season with 19.10 meters; my farthest throw in three years,” Morrison said on his Instagram account.
