By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A naturalized Cambodian with French lineage ended Kim Mangrobang’s supremacy in women’s triathlon but Fer Casares kept his men’s crown in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games at the Kiep Beach Town in Kiep City here.
The three-time SEAG champion Mangrobang settled for the silver behind Margot Garabedian after clocking 1 hour, 7 minutes and 24 seconds in the 750 meter swim, 20km bike, 5km run race.
Garabedian, ranked No. 190 in world triathlon and a seventh placer at the World Junior Championships in 2014, captured the gold medal in 1:05:34.2.
The Fil-Spaniard clocked 58 minutes and 33.5 seconds to outshine his rivals in the 750-meter swim, 20-kilometer bike, 5km run leg that included Indonesian Rashif Amila Yaqin and teammate Andrew Kim Remolino.
Yaqin settled for silver in 58:47.7 while Remolino bagged the bronze in 59:55.5.
Casares bucked a slow start by finishing the swim leg at sixth, but slowly made his way in the bike leg where he posted the fastest time in 29:48 mins.
He maintained his lead en route to retaining his title.
Still fresh from defending her duathlon title Sunday, May 7, Mangrobang trailed Garabedian in the swim leg by more than a minute and was running fifth in the bike leg.
She gave the best she could in the run leg by clocking the fastest time of 20:04 minutes, but checked in two minutes behind Garabedian.
Singapore’s Louisa Marie Middleditch bagged the bronze in 1:07:30.1, while PH bet Raven Alcoseba wound up fourth in 1:08:49.1
The PH team successfully ended its campaign as the top performing nation with three golds, two silver and one bronze medal.
The other two golds came from the aquathlon relay team and Kim Mangrobang in women’s duathlon.
