Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 5) – Filipino-American sprinter Kristina Knott continues her Tokyo Olympics preparations by bagging another silver medal in the 100 meters of the Pure Athletics Spring Invitational in Clermont, Florida over the weekend.
Knott clocked 11.36 seconds to finish second behind Angela Tenorio, who topped the race with 11.33 seconds.
The 25-year-old Fil-Am track star’s time was an improvement from her 11.54-second performance in the 93rd Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays last March 27, where she also took home the silver medal.
Knott finished fourth overall in the preliminaries with a time of 11.57 seconds, enough for her to earn a spot in the final race.
However, Knott was not as lucky in the 200 meters of the Florida meet as she placed seventh in a field of 21 sprinters.
Knott needs to record a time of 11.15 seconds in the 100-meter event and 22.80 seconds in the 200-meter run to set the stage for her Olympic debut.
She will compete in the Miramar Invitational in Florida this coming weekend and then a high-level competition in Gainesville, Florida on April 17, where she may run in the 100-meter and 200-meter events.
Knott’s last tournament will be the 10th Savona International Meeting in Savona, Italy on May 13, where she can choose to participate in either of the two events, depending on her prior tournaments’ results.
Knott currently holds two Philippine national track and field records. She clocked 11.27 seconds in her silver-medal finish at the Drake Blue Oval Showcase in Iowa in August last year, eclipsing sports legend Lydia de Vega’s 33-year-old national record in the century dash. In the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, she also broke De Vega’s national record in the women’s 200 meters after recording a time of 23.01 seconds to take home the gold medal.
