Kayla Sanchez competes for 100m Freestyle Finals during the 19th Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China. PSC-POC Media Pool.
The Philippine swimming team failed to reach the podium but set a handful of new national records at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
The quartet of Tiea Salvino, Kayla Sanchez, Jasmine Alkhaldi, and Thanya dela Cruz clocked 4:10.61 in the women's 4x100m medley relay final on Friday night.
The mark was good for fourth place in the final, while also resetting the new national mark that they registered in the heats earlier in the day when they clocked 4:10.80.
Japan took the gold with a time of 3:57.67, followed by Korea (4:00.13) and Hong Kong (4:01.72).
On Thursday, the quartet of Salvino, Sanchez, Xiandi Chua, and Chloe Kennedy Isleta finished fifth overall in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay finals, while establishing a new Philippine record with a time of 8:12.80.
China dominated the race, clocking 7:49.34 followed by Japan (7:55.93) and Korea (8:00.11).
The Philippines emerged as the best Southeast Asian country in the race, and their time shattered the previous national mark of 8:15.46, set in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games by Alkhaldi, Chua, Nicole Oliva, and Remedy Rule.
Sanchez also set a new national record in the women's 50m backstroke (28.66 seconds) and the women's 100m freestyle (54.69s) while Chua notched a new mark in the women's 200m individual medley (2:16.18).
However, the Philippines has to wait for another four years to end a long medal drought in swimming in the Asian Games.
The last time that a Filipino swimmer won an Asiad medal was in 1998 in Bangkok, when Raymond Papa got two bronzes in the men's 100m and 200m backstroke. The last swimming gold medal for the Philippines came all the way back in New Delhi in 1982, courtesy of William Wilson in the men's 200m freestyle.
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