(UPDATE3) The Philippines' Eric Cray won the gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles in the Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, on Tuesday.

Cray, 28, finished his signature race with a time of 50.03 seconds, a mere two-hundredths of a second ahead of Vietnam's Quach Cong Lich, the same man who finished 2nd when Cray won the same event in the Singapore SEA Games in 2015.

Replays of the finish showed Cray literally nosing out Quach for the Olongapo-born runner's 3rd straight SEA Games 400s crown.

Andrian of Indonesia copped the bronze with a time of 51.52 seconds.

But Cray couldn't complete a double gold, losing out in the 100 meters later in the night.

Despite barely an hour's rest between races, Cray, the title holder coming into the sprint event, still finished second with a time of 10.43 seconds.

The gold went to Malaysian teen and hometown favorite Khairul Hafiz Jantan who clocked 10.38 seconds. Kritsada Namsuwun of Thailand settled for bronze.

Cray told ABS-CBN News' Dyan Castillejo that he experienced cramps after the hurdles event.

Eric Cray thrilled over his win🏅, but still needs to prepare for 100m finals and he has less than an hour. pic.twitter.com/cJCOsLHwei

— DYAN CASTILLEJO (@DYANCASTILLEJO) August 22, 2017

"I'm still a lot stronger than that time. I just knew I'm going to be pretty tired. I'm just happy I came away with the win and I need to rest," Cray told Castillejo after winning the 400s.

"I should retire now from the 400-meter hurdles. It's such a hard race."

Cray also won the 400s in Myanmar in 2013 and in Singapore in 2015.

Cray, who currently resides in El Paso, Texas, set the 400s record in 2015, clocking 49.4 seconds en route to gold.

He is the reigning Asian champion in the hurdles event, taking home the title in the competition held in India last month.

(For more sports coverage, visit the ABS-CBN Sports website.)