FEELING fitter than ever before, Aries Toledo will shoot for an unprecedented third consecutive men’s decathlon gold medal in the 31st Vietnam Southeast Asian Games track and field competitions at the My Dinh National Stadium in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi in May.
“No Filipino has won three straight men’s decathlon golds in the SEA Games so we want Aries to be the first person to do it,” national coach Sean Guevarra said of their goal in a recent interview.
“One hundred percent po na lalaban tayo para ma-depensahan ang gold. Maski nga po noong nakaraan at hindi 100 percent lumalaban pa rin,” said Toledo, recalling his successful title-retention bid in the 2019 SEA Games at the New Clark City Athletic Stadium in Capas, Tarlac despite a hip injury.
Since there was no decathlon in the last Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association-Milo Performance trials last week, Guevarra said they focused on seeing action in the long jump, 200-meter run and shot put where he noted the athlete needed more work to be done.
Guevarra said he was encouraged by the results, particularly the long jump where Toledo leapt to a distance of 7.23 meter, a 15-centimeter improvement over the 7.08 meters he achieved at the Baguio Athletic Bowl during the Ayala Philippine Athletic Championships in December.
