Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 18) – The Philippines is still represented in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia beginning Saturday, despite prized pole vaulter EJ Obiena missing the tournament for failing to secure the endorsement of the national athletics federation.
Tokyo Olympian sprinter Kristina Knott is the lone Filipino athlete to compete in the prestigious athletics meet as she seeks a respectable finish in the women’s 60-meter run.
Knott, who is ranked 150 in the world, joins the roster of 49 sprinters from 38 countries in vying for the medal in the event.
The 26-year-old Filipino American sprinting sensation holds a personal-best time of 7.26 seconds and season-best time of 7.42 seconds in the women’s 60-meter run category.
The tournament is Knott’s first since her Olympic debut in August last year and is expected to boost her preparations for the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) in May in Hanoi, Vietnam.
In the 2019 SEAG, Knott made history after she broke the national record in the women’s 200-meter run to win one of her two golds in the biennial sports meet.
She also reset the 33-year standing national record in the women’s 100-meter run in an Iowa tournament in August 2020, besting former Asia sprint queen Lydia De Vega’s time by just .01 second.
