Charging home: Triyaningsih screams victoriously as she crosses the finish line to win the women’s 5000-meter run in a time of 15 minutes and 56.79 seconds on Monday. JP/Arief Suhardiman
As expected, the women’s 5,000-meter specialist Triyaningsih and discus thrower Dwi Ratnawati successfully defended their domination at the Main Stadium of the National Sports Complex in Vientiane on Monday.
The only shortcoming was their failure to improve their records.
“I am not quite happy, I could not break my record,” said Triyaningsih, who finished first in 15:56.79.
Her mark was over her time of 15:54.32 that earned her the gold in Thailand two years ago.
“There was no much competition [from others] during the race, unlike in Nakhon [Thailand’s 2007 SEA Games] that drove me to running to the record,” said the 22-year-old specialist in the women’s marathon, the 10,000 meter and the 5,000 meter race.
“The winner and the runner up of past SEA Games were absent. So, I was like racing against myself,” she added.
The silver went to Naing Naing Win of Myanmar, who finished with a time of 16:38.02, while the bronze was grabbed by M. Fetalvero of the Philippines, who clocked 17:12.09.
Due to SEA Games committee regulation that each athlete can only take part in two events at the most, Triyaningsih can only participate in the women’s 10,000-m race, which is scheduled on Dec. 17, handing her place in Tuesday’s women’s marathon to Unik Setyorini.
Triyaningsih said she would be looking forward to making it a double by winning the 10,000-meter race.
“Marathon usually takes place on the last day of the SEA Games. But here, it is held between 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters. Tri can not join all three events because it would risk her physical fitness,” said the Indonesian team’s deputy chief Djoko Pramono.
Meanwhile, Indonesian women’s discus thrower Dwi also bagged her second consecutive SEA Games gold in with a 50.63-meter throw, leaving Thailand content with the silver and bronze through S. Warapiang, who made 49.85-meter throw and J. Krasaeyan with 49.12-meter.
“Honestly, I am surprised with this result as my preparation was not very smooth,” Dwi said.
She had split her attention between the track and office in the past year as she underwent a year long initiation as a new civil servant in Salatiga, Central Java.
“I began to train intensively from September. So, I have been coming here with only 95-percent capacity,” said the 27-year-old athlete.
When asked about the Rp 200 million bonus that she would receive for her victory, she said “I will for my to go haj.”
In the women’s triple jump event, 19-year-old Maria Natalia Londa was only able to make 13.31-m
jump for the bronze medal. T. Muangjan won the gold with a height of 14.08 meters with fellow Thai S. Seechaichana taking the silver in 13.48 meters.
Indonesia’s track and field team has collected three gold, a silver and two bronze medals to date, to stand in third place in the medal tally.
Indonesian track and field squad is aiming to retain the seven-gold haul it won two years ago.
Suryo Agung opened Indonesia’s bid by impressivly setting up the men’s 100 meters to win the gold on Sunday. He improved his old record of 10.25 seconds to 10.17 seconds.
