PHNOM PENH. – Preserving his strength for the final event of decathlon, where he was in the running for a silver medal, Janry Ubas leapt to a games’ best of 7.85 meters in the long jump finals in his first attempt to capture his first career Southeast Asian Games gold medal after eight years of trying.
“Sinecure ko lang po ‘yung first jump ko, kailangan mataas ‘yung talon ko kaagad, kasi crucial sa isang event ko, ‘yung decathlon, may tatakbuhin pa akong 1,500, kaya kinuha ko na agad ‘yung best ko sa first jump, ‘yung tipong pang-gold na talaga,” said Ubas, who began competing in the SEA Games in 2015 in Singapore.
The tactical and logical move enabled Ubas to reap handsome dividends as Vietnamese Tien Trong Nguyen’s 7.66 and Indonesian Sapwaturrahman’s 7.62 fell short, relegating them to the silver and bronze, respectively.
Ubas actually set a new SEA Games and Philippine record of 8.08 meters in the long jump event of the decathlon last Monday, becoming the first Filipino to jump over eight meters.
Ubas’ golden win was athletics’ second triumph in these games following the record-smashing 5.65-meter leap of Ernest John Obiena in the long jump finals last Monday.
Earlier, Joida Gagnao settled for the silver in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10:40.96, behind the gold-winning 10:34.370 of Vietnam’s Thi Oanh Nguyen and ahead of the bronze effort of another Vietnamese in Thi Huong Nguyen, who clocked 11:00.850.
It was the second silver of the athletics contingent to go with the runner-up finish of Arlan Arbois in men’s marathon, where Christine Hallasgo secured the bronze in the distaff side.
