DAVAO City’s Lyka Labrica Catubig easily walked away in the wee hours of the morning with her first gold medal while national swimmer Miguel Barreto of Bulacan scored a golden double to highlight a first full day of action in the Philippine National Games at the Philsports Complex in Pasig on Monday (18 Dec 2023).

Waking up at 3 a.m. to make sure that she made it from her billeting in Manila to the opening track and field event at 6:30 a.m. at the Philsports Track Oval, Catubig was virtually uncontested in ruling the women’s Under-20 3-kilometer walk in 16 minutes and 44.55 seconds.

Pasig’s Laurize Jeante Wangkay finished a distant second (16:51.98) while Pangasinan province’s Jane Krizzel Buizon took the bronze (16:52.35) in the sportsfest organized by the Philippine Sports Commission marking its return after four years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the host city picked up a pair of mints from Justin Santos Macuring in the men’s U20 3-kilometer walk (14:52.57) and women’s open discus throw from Ainah Marie Agapito Masangkay with a heave of 36.36 meters in the meet backed by the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corp. and Philippine Olympic Committee.

On the other hand, Barreto emerged from the Philsports pool just a stone’s throw away from the track oval in topping the men’s 200-meter individual medley in a personal best of 2:09.94 before ending his outing in topping the men’s 100-meter freestyle in 52.07 seconds.

“I didn’t expect to win in this race pero talagang pinaghandaan ko po ito kaya tuwang-tuwa ako sa pagkapanalo ng unang gold sa PNG,” said PNG Catubig of her triumph in her PNG debut after taking the bronze in the 2-kilometer walk in the 2019 Palarong Pambansa edition held in her hometown.

“Mahirap yung mag-train as an athlete habang nag-aaral but as long as you are dedicated and train hard, malalampasan po ang mga challenges,” added the 19-year-old University of Mindanao BS Criminology freshman.

She was hoping to complete a sweep of all of her two remaining events, including the 5,000-kilometer run tomorrow and the 5,000-kilometer walk on Thursday in the meet also backed by the Department of Education, PBA, Pocari Sweat, Milo, PLDT, and Smart, Grab, Chooks to Go and Shakey’s.

The most bemedalled swimmer with seven gold medals in the 2015 Batang Pinoy Nationals held in Cebu City, Barreto, a native of Malolos, said he was happy about his two golds, particularly in men’s 200-meter IM “because for the longest time four years na hindi ako nag-pepersonal best sa event of almost two seconds.

“I am also proud for my province of Bulacan that I was able to become the PNG’s first double medalist.”

The younger brother of fellow national swimmer Rafael Barreto, the lanky athlete was likewise hoping to complete a five-gold sweep of his events, including the 400-meter freestyle on Thursday and the 200-meter freestyle and 50-meter breaststroke on the last day of the meet on Friday.

Joining the list of gold medalists in athletics was San Fernando, Pampanga’s Marvin Perez Ramos, who topped the men’s U20 long jump with a leap of 6.34 meters.

Mandaluyong City’s Jinzy Morga Passion topped the women’s 18-and-over women’s 200-meter IM while Davao City’s Francis Greg Espiritu topped the boys’ 200-meter breaststroke event (2:25.72) for the other early gold medalists in swimming.