EMERGING as the country’s up-and-coming middle-distance runners, Hussein Loraña and Bernarlyn Bejoy bagged a silver medal each in the men’s and women’s 800-meter runs of the 34th Qosanov Memorial over the weekend at the Olympic Training Base in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
In a thrilling contest that went down to the wire, Loraña clocked one minute and 52.69 seconds to finish a close second behind Iran’s Almi Almirian (1:52.09) and ahead of hometown bronze medalist Nikita Izotov (1:53.97).
Loraña’s time was better than the 1:52.91 of Cambodian gold medalist Chhun Bonthorn in the 2023 32nd Cambodia Southeast Asian Games, which likely secured him a national team spot in the 33rd edition of the regional meet in Thailand in December.
The winsome Bejoy also was within a whisker of a golden finish before being relegated to second place, clocking 2:12.27 behind Uzbek Irina Levina, who crossed the finish line slightly ahead in 2:12.07.
Both athletes will join the other members of the national squad, also composed of sprinters Anfernee Lopena and Liane Pama, who will see action in the 1st Indian Open, a WA Bronze Level Continental Tour meet, on Sunday at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneshwar, India.
Meanwhile, Paris Olympian Lauren Hoffman and former Asian champion Robyn Brown are set to compete today (Thursday morning in Manila) in the women’s 400-meter hurdles at the La Classique d’athletisme de Montreal in Montreal, Canada.
