By Dennis Principe
It looks like the Philippines will be missing one of its top gold medal hopefuls in the 30th Southeast Asian Games which the country is hosting late next year.
That’s because back-to-back SEA Games champion Nikko Huelgas is contemplating of giving up his slot to younger talents in the biennial meet as he focuses on a more challenging international event starting next year.
Huelgas, 28, said his target is to qualify for the 70.3 Ironman World Championship where, in his recollection, no Filipino has ever qualified in the tough long distance event.
“So far wala pa naman sa goals ko yun (SEA Games) kasi December pa lang so it’s really a long way to go and ang daming nakapilang races. We’ll see pa pero hindi ko siya sobrang priority to be honest,” revealed Huelgas.
“Target ko talaga is yung Ironman 70.3 World Championships. Hindi pa kami sure kung target namin is next year or yung 2020. Pero most likely yung 2020, so 2019 ang goal is mag-qualify,” added Huelgas. “Extremely hard for any Filipino or any Southeast Asian kasi I don’t think one has ever done that before so we’ll try to be the first one from the region.”
While he admits he feels regretful in thinking about missing an opportunity to become a three-time SEAG champion, Huelgas said he s to listen to his body to assure a longer career in the sport.
Huelgas first won the SEA Games crown during the 2015 event in Singapore then successfully defended the title the following meet in 2017 in Malaysia.
“Konti pero at the same time parang yung katawan ko kasi hindi as dominant as I was nung early years. For one as you age your body gets slower by nature,” admits Huelgas. “You lack speed na. Eh yung Olympic distance na ito demands a lot of speed kaya maraming older people are doing the long distance. It caters to me, doing longer distances.”
