Olympic medalist Kayla Sanchez made a stunning debut at the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, capping her formidable performance with a haul of three gold and five silver medals in the swimming competition.<\/p>\n
Sanchez, who previously secured two Olympic medals for Canada at the 2020 Tokyo Games, expressed her pride in representing the Philippines this time around.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very special. I love my teammates, my whole family is here, and I really hope I made the country proud,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Sanchez immediately made her presence felt by anchoring the 4×100-meter freestyle relay team to a historic gold medal, alongside teammates Xiandi Chua, Chloe Isleta, and Heather White. The squad secured the Philippines’ first-ever gold in that event since joining the Games in 1977.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy first race was a relay, and it was not just me who did it. They all made me less nervous\u2026 It was fun to have them,\u201d a visibly thrilled Sanchez said, crediting her teammates for easing her pre-race tension.<\/p>\n
On her second day, Sanchez momentarily shattered the meet record in the 50m backstroke preliminaries, clocking 28.47 seconds, surpassing Indonesia\u2019s Wolf Masniari\u2019s 2023 mark.<\/p>\n
However, in a tightly contested final, she settled for silver as Masniari reclaimed the top spot.<\/p>\n
Channeling her disappointment, Sanchez delivered a dominant performance in the 100m freestyle the following day, claiming her second gold with a time of 54.82 seconds.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got motivated. I was heartbroken [after that silver finish]. I felt that I let the country down, and I am just so proud to achieve this gold,\u201d she shared, revealing the emotional drive behind her win.<\/p>\n
She completed her golden hat-trick on her fourth consecutive day of competition, taking the 100m backstroke title with a winning time of 1:02.35.<\/p>\n
Sanchez also secured five silver medals, three in individual events\u2014the 200m freestyle, 50m backstroke, and 50m freestyle\u2014and two in relays: the 4x200m freestyle relay and the 4x100m medley relay, significantly contributing to the Philippines’ overall medal count.<\/p>\n
The Philippine swimming team capped the event with three golds, eight silvers, and two bronze medals.<\/p>\n
The other three silvers were from White (100m Freestyle), Chua (200m backstroke), and Gian Santos (men\u2019s 200m individual).<\/p>\n
The bronze medals also came from White (50m freestyle), and Logan Wataru Noguchi (50m butterfly). (PNA)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sanchez credited her success to years of training and strong support from home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":263090,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19265],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-263089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-great-filipino-story"],"zyndk8_nxtgen_metadata":{"nxtgen_comments":[{"6241":"congrats kayla sanchez, well deserved \ud83c\udf89\r","6242":"historic relay \ud83c\udfca\u200d\u2640\ufe0f\r","6243":"ang saya makita yung team chemistry \ud83d\udc99\r","6244":"grabeh ang dami medalas ni kaylaaa \ud83d\ude0d\ud83e\udd47\r","6245":"pinoy pride moment talaga ito \ud83d\udc9b\r"}]},"yoast_head":"\n