Fernando Casares successfully defended his men’s triathlon title by nosing out Indonesia’s Rashif Amila Yaqin in the final of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games on Monday at the Kep Town Beach in Kep City, Cambodia.
Casares’ second individual triathlon title is the country’s 15th gold of the Games and the triathlon squad’s third title.
Trailing before the final run leg, the Fil-Spanish standout found his second wind in the leg. He took down the last five kilometers in 17:19 minutes to complete the turnaround, eventually stopping the clock at 58:32 – just 13 seconds ahead of the aquathlon gold medalist.
Andrew Remolino completed the podium with a similar sub-one-hour finish at 59:53. The 2021 Games runner-up was in an actual three-way race with Casares and Yaqin in that final leg. However, Remolino ran out of gas and finished in third place.
On the women’s side, Kim Mangrobang’s reign in the women’s individual triathlon ended with a silver-medal finish after three consecutive Games on top.
Mangrobang and Margot Garabedian were toe-to-toe from start to finish, but the Filipina’s last gasp for a comeback in the final run fell short. The hometown darling snagged the gold with 1:05:31 against her 1:07:21.
Raven Alcoseba, on the other hand, barely missed a podium spot by a minute after crossing the finish line at 1:08:46. Singapore’s Louisa Middleditch went ahead in third at 1:07:28, almost relegating Mangrobang into her place.
Mangrobang last finished with the silver in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games behind compatriot Ma. Claire Adorna when they gave the country its first medals of that edition.
The national triathlon team finished with three golds, two silvers, and one bronze, topping the medal standings in the Games for the fifth straight edition since that 2015 dominance.
