By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
High jumper Leonard Grospe soared to new heights anew after shattering his own national record in winning a silver medal in the 2024 Thailand Track and Field Championships on Friday, June 14.
Pending ratification, Grospe’s 2.21-meter effort will be the official Philippine record after bettering his one-year-old mark of 2.20m he established at the 2023 Philippine National Games held in Manila.
The Mapua standout who won three golds in the recent NCAA Season 99 finished second behind Chinese Taipei’s Ye Po-Ting who cleared 2.25m.
Chatchai Nil of Thailand bagged the bronze with 2.07m.
Meanwhile, Janry Ubas boosted his 2024 Paris Olympics qualification campaign after capturing the gold medal in men’s long jump.
The 2023 Asian Indoor Championship bronze medalist leapt to a distance of 7.51m to defeat Chinese Taipei’s Wen Hua-Yu, who registered 7.41m for the silver, and Hong Kong’s Wong Pak Hang, who settled for bronze with 7.37m.
Ubas’ gold medal effort was way off his national record of 7.85m and his current season-best of 7.83m he posted at the National Championships in Pasig last May.
It was a fitting follow-up to his bronze medal win at the 2024 Taiwan Athletics Open early this month in Chinese Taipei with a 7.44m performance.
In Malaysia, Melvin Calano made heads turn with a gold-medal feat in men’s javelin throw at the Cahya Mata Malaysian Open Championship.
Calano heaved 60.88m to edge Elrick Roslee (59.74m) and Syed Abrar Bin Syed Ahmad Zawawi (56.03m).
