PHNOM PENH—Christine Hallasgo goes after the hide of the defending champion from Indonesia and Richard Salano and Arlan Arbois eye podium finishes in 32nd Southeast Asian Games marathon starting at 6 a.m. Saturday in Siem Reap City.
Hallasgo, marathon champion in the 2019 but silver medalist last year in Vietnam, try to regain the crown with the help of teammate, newcomer Ruffa Sorongon.
Standing in her way are champion Odekta Elvina Naibaho of Indonesia and bronze medalist Ngoc Hoa Hoang Thi of Vietnam.
“Overall, the team is ready. We arrived here [Siem Reap] early enough and our athletes are not tensed. They are ready to compete,” Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association secretary general Edward Kho said.
As the Filipino athletes slowly acclimatized with the conditions because of their early arrival, they still expect fierce competition from the Vietnamese in particular, as they have been in Cambodia a month earlier, familiarizing themselves with the two proposed routes and the scorching conditions.
Meanwhile, with the weather expected to reach a high of 39C, Salano and Arbois will challenge the dominance of defending men’s champion Hoang Nguyen Thanh of Vietnam in a field made weaker by the absence of Thailand’s Tony Ah-Thit Payne.
Payne, a naturalized New Zealand athlete, who bagged a bronze medal at the 31st SEA Games marathon in Hanoi last year, slipped and was injured while preparing for the games in Bangkok.
His absence has given Salano and Arbois an opening to fight for a podium finish, or even pull off an upset win against the favorites.
The rest of the events of athletics will be played in Phnom Penh from May 8 to 12 at the Morodok Techno National Stadium, including pole vault on Monday with world’s no. 3 Ernest John Obiena shooting for a third straight SEA Games title.