De Vega’s 33-year-old 100-m PH record falls to Knott in US

Kristina Marie Knott –MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

Kristina Knott finished second in a race in the United States and was ecstatic as she brought down Lydia de Vega-Mercado’s long-standing Philippine 100-meter dash record while finishing ahead of three-time Olympic gold medalist Tianna Bartoletta—doing that while she is far from peak form.

“I’m happy and grateful. I feel proud about my execution in the 100m this weekend,’’ Knott told the Inquirer after wiping out De Vega-Mercado’s 11.28-second standard chalked up during a glorious 1987 Southeast Asian Games campaign in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Knott clocked 11.27 seconds for the silver medal behind US NCAA Division 1 athlete of the year Kayla White, who clocked 11.18 seconds in the 2020 Drake Blue Oval Showcase on Sunday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa, where 80 of the finest tracksters in the world saw action.

Bartoletta, who anchored Team USA to the women’s 4x100m relay gold in the 2012 London and 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympics, arrived third in 11.44 seconds. Bartoletta likewise captured the women’s long jump gold in Rio.

Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association president Philip Ella Juico confirmed that the latest time of Knott is a new Philippine record, the best time in Southeast Asia.Knott’s time was achieved with a legal wind assistance factor of 1.5 meters per second and is even more noteworthy given the very complex COVID-19 pandemic situation.

Knott is seeking Tokyo Olympic qualification in the 100m and 200m.

“The Olympic standard for the 100m is 11.15 seconds and 22.80 for the 200m. I’m aiming for both, so whichever I hit before the window is closed is the one I’ll be competing in, hopefully,’’ Knott said.

According to her sprint coach Rohsaan Griffin, Knott had not raced enough due to the pandemic that ground sports to a halt. INQ