Athletics chief Philip Ella Juico announced the development in an online press conference that the Filipina sprinter tested positive on COVID-19. 

“While Kristina was fully vaccinated, she tested positive for COVID-19 just a few hours before she was about to compete in her second-to-the-last event,” Juico announced on late Wednesday. 

She then got the unfortunate news from her teammate Eric Cray, which was among her close contacts. 

“I was supposed to compete the day before but my teammate Eric Cray, he told me, ‘You tested positive.’ I was like, everyone tested negative but me,” Knott shared to Radyo5’s Power and Play.

“I feel great. If anything, I’m confused. Because everyone who I’m with tested negative, I’m the only one who tested positive. And I feel great. So I don’t know if it’s a false positive,” she continued. 

The Olympic qualifier Knott says it was a weird feeling upon knowing that she made it to the Tokyo Olympics via Universality rule, making her the 15th Filipino athlete to qualify in the upcoming Summer Games, as it coincided with the result of her test. 

“When I first heard the news, it was mixed emotions,” she said. “So when I got the news, I was actually on my Covid bed. So it was a weird feeling—I qualified, but I’m on my bed,” she recalled. 

With the unfortunate event that scratched her race in Finland, the Fil-American will fly back to the States for a training camp which will head after to Nagasaki as part of her build-up before going to Tokyo to fully focus on the Olympic games. 

With her first foray into the Olympics, the goal of Knott is to break the national record of 23.01 seconds in the 200-meter dash.

“I am trying to get out of the 23s. I no longer want to run 23 seconds. So if that’s 22.9, I’ll take it because I’m tired of running 23,” averred the two-time SEA Games gold medalist, who also owns the 100-meter NR at 11.27 seconds.

“The 200 is a rhythm race. So I know, like, me and my coach, we’re going to work nothing but rhythm … Especially because I’m only going to focus on the 200 which is good,” she continued. 

Overall, Knott is extremely honored to finally make it to the Tokyo Games and is looking forward to a great finish. 

“Because I know a lot this year, I focused a lot more usual on 100, so I’m excited to just really to train and focus on 200,” she added.