Tehillah Mag-aso braved the chilly weather and fought off the onset of fever to claim a silver medal in the recent Asian Junior Finswimming Competition in Yantai, China.
The 15-year-old, bothered by tonsillitis throughout the trip, placed second after finishing the 1500-meter race in 15 minutes and 41 seconds.
Mag-aso was 35 seconds slower than gold medalist Hu Yu Tieh of Chinese Taipei.
“We haven’t experienced competing during winter before,” said national team coach Mary Ann Reyes.
Jelahlou Mendoza added a bronze medal to the Philippine collection by checking in third in the 800m (7:40) behind China’s Li Jiayi (7:07) and Vietnam’s Pham Thi Kim (7:21).
“We controlled Tehillah’s tonsillitis by letting her gargle ginger lemon water and massaging her with eucalyptus oil,” said Reyes.