Olympian Mary Joy Tabal has more than proven her worth as a gold-medal contender in the forthcoming Kuala Lumpur Southeast Asian Games.
The Cebuana ruled the Scotiabank Ottawa Half Marathon held in Canada on Sunday in one hour, 16 minutes and 27.4 seconds, erasing her previous best of 1:18:44 accomplished in Japan last year.
Tabal qualified for the women’s full marathon of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games through the same Ottawa race last year, clocking 2:43:31 in the 42K event to meet the Olympic qualifying standard of 2:45:00.
After clocking 35:44 halfway through the cool and flat course, the 27-year-old went on to finish eighth overall with seven male marathoners crossing the line ahead of her.
Canadian Johan Trimaille topped the men’s race in 1:12:42 while compatriot Brittany Moran checked in second in the women’s race, over two minutes after Tabal reached home.
Tabal was a silver medalist in the 2015 Singapore SEA Games, making her a cinch for the Philippine team in the KL meet this August. —JUNE NAVARRO