Kim Mangrobang finished third at the Dakhla Sprint Triathlon Africa Cup last Dec.17 in Morocco, achieving a podium finish for the second time at the women elite level.
With this finish, Mangrobang jumped 48 spots in the ITU World ranking to 154th. This race is part of her preparation for the 2017 SEA Games and eventual participation in the 2020 Olympics.
She came out of the swim in second place with the lead pack of four that included Jenny Manners of England, Alessia Orta of Italy and Greta Santosi of Hungary.
A strong finish, however, by Emmie Charayron of France saw the Frenchwoman catching Santosi, Orla, and eventually Mangrobang.
Manners hung on to win in 1:05:56, followed by the closing Charayron (1:06:28), and then Mangrobang (1:06:41) who held off Orla, Sena Takahasi of Japan and Santosi.
“Kim is progressing well and this a good step towards qualifying for the 2020 Olympics,” said coach Sergio Santos, training director of the DESMOR High Performance Camp, where the Philippine elite athletes have been training since 2014.
Mangrobang’s campaign is supported by the Triathlon Association of the Philippines (TRAP), the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and San Miguel Corporation.
Southeast Asian Games cgampions Claire Adorna and Nikko Huelgas are also currently in DESMOR as well as Edward Macalalad. John Chicano and Kim Kilgroe.