Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 17) – Olympians Jasmine Alkhaldi and Luke Gebbie banner the 15-strong Philippine swimming team seeking to win more golds in the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Alkhaldi, who represented the country in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, took home two silvers and six bronzes during the 2019 SEAG at the New Clark City Aquatics Center in Capas, Tarlac.
Gebbie, one of two Filipino swimmers in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, won a silver and a bronze in the men’s 4×100 meter freestyle relay and men’s 50-meter freestyle events respectively.
2019 SEAG silver medalists Chloe Isleta, Xiandi Chua, Desirae Mangaoang, and Jean-Pierre Khouzam bolster the list of Filipino tankers competing on May 14-19 at the My Dinh Water Sports Stadium.
Boosting the Philippine swimming team in the upcoming SEAG is teenage sensation Thanya Dela Cruz, who made waves for breaking the national record in the women’s 50-meter breaststroke event during the 2022 Philippine Swimming Inc. (PSI) National Open held last month in Malate, Manila.
Also part of the squad are foreign-based swimmers such as Stanford University standout Jonathan Cook, Notre Dame University ace Jessica Geriane, University of California San Diego product Miranda Renner, University of North Carolina tanker Donovan Lahmann, and Filipino German sensation Adrian Eichler.
Completing the national swimming team in Hanoi are top local swimmers Chloe Daos, Jerard Jacinto, and Jaden Olson.
PSI president Lani Velasco said James Deiparine, who broke the country’s decade-long gold medal drought in the SEAG in 2019, will not make it to the Vietnam meet.
“Unfortunately, there are circumstances that have made it difficult for him to defend his title this coming 31st Southeast Asian Games. We all know that the global pandemic has affected us in different ways,” Velasco told CNN Philippines.
The Philippines clinched a total of one gold, six silvers, and nine bronzes in the last staging of the biennial sports event.
