Knott breaks Lydia de Vega's 100-m nat'l record

Kristina Knott (Photo courtesy of Times of Sea)

by Drew Malihan

MANILA --  For 33 long years, Lydia de Vega's record in 100-meter sprint stood tall after her triumph in Jakarta.

But it only took Kristina Knott 11.27 seconds to rewrite history.

The Fil-American sprinter resets the long-standing record as she set a new Philippine record for 100-meter sprint at the Drake Blue Oval showcase in Iowa on Sunday, Philippine time.

The record was then at 11.28 seconds set by de Vega at the Southeast Asian Games in 1987, but Knott run a hundredth of a second faster.

She now has two Philippine records to her name as she also has the 200-meter standard set at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games at the New Clark City Athletics Stadium, resetting her 23.07-second in the qualifying heats with a 23.01-second run in the finals.

The 2019 SEA Games gold medalist in 200-meter sprint came in second at the said tournament, with only US-represent Kayla White besting her with 11.18 seconds in the tournament with strict protocols and tracksters running one lane apart.

The Fil-Am sprinter looks to qualify for the Philippines in the Tokyo Olympics, aiming for a 11.15-second run to qualify for the Olympic track event.