By REYNALD MAGALLON
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY – At the end of the fierce battle at the sea, paddlers from the different national teams gathered and enjoyed the festive mood even in the middle of humid afternoon at the Baywalk here.
But there was an even bigger party for the Filipinos after the announcement of the overall winners.
The Philippine national team capped a historic campaign in the 2024 ICF World Championships by bagging the overall title on Sunday, Nov. 3.
The PH paddlers sustained their pace and hardly missed a beat in the final day of the competitions, scooping two golds, five silvers and two bronzes to end the four-day tournament at the top of the 27-country field with 39 total medals – 11 golds, 20 silvers and eight bronzes — also the biggest haul in the country’s four appearance in the meet.
Thailand came in second with eight golds while Individual Neutral Athletes from Russia (AIN) came in third with six golds, three silvers and three bronzes.
The 40+ and 50+ Masters category proved to be a gold mine for the Filipinos, winning nine in the standard boat 200-meter open, mixed and women’s events, small boat women’s 200m and standard boat 500m open and women’s events.
The small boat mixed 200m, standard boat women’s 2000m, and standard boat 500m teams also delivered the golds while the other two came from junior small boat mixed 200m and standard boat mixed 200m.
“Super proud that we were able to host such prestigious event kasi laging big countries ang naghohist we are very thankful sa Puerto Princesa City to accept this. Ang laking challenge ng (hosting). I’m so proud and honored, of course, to be part of this very big event,” said national team coach Duch Co.
“Malaking bagay ito kasi for us, especially the powerhouse countries are here, like Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia. We were able to gauge yung athletes din nila, isang puntos din iyon,” she added.
Still yet to be determined is the team’s qualification for the 2025 World Games in Chengdu next year. The country needs to finish in the Top 10 of qualifying rankings that is to be determined by the team’s accumulated times in the small boat mixed 200 meters, 500m and 2000m events.
The Filipinos recorded 52.13 seconds for the fifth best time in the mixed 200m and a 9:46.34 finish for the 10th place in the mixed 2000m. The PH paddlers, however, failed to qualify to the final of the 500m race after only placing fifth in the Heat 3 of the semifinals on Saturday.
