Shiloh Corrales-Nelson —PHOTO COURTESY OF UCR WEBSITE
Shiloh Corrales-Nelson, a 19-year-old born to a Filipino mother and Canadian father, set the new Philippine record in the women’s hammer throw after a golden performance in the Triton Invitational in San Diego, California, over the weekend.
A freshman at the University of California Riverside (UCR) Corrales-Nelson heaved the hammer to a distance of 50.63 meters, breaking an eight-year-old record of 50.55 meters that Loralie Amahit-Sermona held since the Asian Championships in Pune, India.
Her previous personal best was 50.50 meters.
“She came back on her last throw of the day to earn this record and we know she has much farther to go in this event,” track coach Candace Fuller said in an interview published on the UCR’s varsity team website.
Shiloh and elder sister Zion, who was a silver medalist for the Philippines during the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games here in 2019, trace their Filipino lineage to their mother, Editha Corrales.
The feat also put Shiloh, ranked inside the top five among hammer throwers in Canada, just behind Grace Wong Xiu Mei, the 2017 SEA Games champion in the regional rankings, according to pinoyathletics.info.
Such a performance also excited pundits as it illustrates Corrales-Nelson’ ceiling in the sport. Amahit-Sermona set the national record when she was 29.
Corrales-Nelson, also snared the silver medal in the shot put event with a 13.03-meter toss. She then finished sixth in discus throw at 39.11 meters. INQ