Consistently improving, Knott a whisker away from Olympic dream

Kristina Knott is already envisioning running on the track oval of the New National Stadium in Tokyo in two sprint events of the 2020 Olympics.

And with the global quadrennial Games fast approaching, the Filipino-American’s imagination is getting realistic by the day.

“The progression is going well. I’m confident that I can meet the qualifying standards before the cutoff,’’ Knott told the Inquirer.

Just last weekend, the Southeast Asian Games women’s 200m record-holder moved closer to the Olympic qualifying times of both the 200m and 100m at the LSU Alumni Gold meet in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The 25-year-old Knott clocked 11.28 seconds in the 100m despite finishing fifth behind medalists Aleia Hobbs (10.91), Tamara Clark (10.96) and Mikiah Brisco (11.02).

Although it was still off the Olympic qualifying mark of 11.15 seconds, the University of Miami alum saw a marked improvement following her 11.54 performance in the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas, almost four weeks ago.

“What keeps me motivated every day is the goal to become an Olympian. That has been my main focus,’’ said Knott.

She likewise made great strides in the 200m also on Sunday after placing third with a clocking of 23.17 seconds, just a split second away from the 22.80-second standard that will automatically propel Knott to a trip to Tokyo.

Tamara Davis of Adidas clocked 22.82 for the gold medal at LSU and Canadian Crystal Emmanuel reached the line in 23.03 seconds.

“I’m aiming for both (100m and 200m), so whichever I hit before the window closes is the one I’ll be competing in hopefully,’’ said Knott, who has until early June to achieve the standards.

Looking forward to the 10th Savona International Meeting in Savona, Italy, on May 17, Knott is seeking to finally achieve the targets in both events.

There are other meets in the coming weeks that are on the drawing board for Knott to accomplish her dream.

But once she makes it to Tokyo, Knott prefers that a huge crowd would watch her historic run for Team Philippines, a topic that is still to be discussed by organizers.

“I don’t even know what the Olympics is gonna look like. Is there gonna be a crowd? I’ll be disappointed if there’s none,’’ said Knott. “As athletes, we feed off on the cheers [of the crowd].’’ INQ