FILIPINA-American track star Kristina Knott is the latest national athlete to punch a ticket to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The 25-year-old runner, who is a current holder of the country’s track record in the women’s 200-meter sprint, qualified through the universality rule and will now join the rest of the Philippine contingent to the upcoming Summer Games.
A universality place is a rule under the Olympic qualifying criteria which allows smaller nations with developing sports programs to send representatives to the competition.
Today, three other sprinters — Gudbjorg Jona Bjarnadottir of Iceland, Lucia Moris of South Sudan, and Veronica Shanti Pereira of Singapore — also confirmed their qualifications.
Knott is the 15th Filipino athlete to formalize their spot in the prestigious competition.
She is a two-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, boasting a national and SEAG record of 23.01 seconds.
She joins Margielyn Didal (skating), Ej Obiena (pole vault), Carlos Yulo (gymnastics), Hidilyn Diaz and Elreen Ando (weightlifting), Eumir Marcial, Nesthy Petecio, Carlo Paalam, Irish Magno (boxing), Cris Nievarez (rowing), Kurt Barbosa (taekwondo), Kiyomi Watanabe (judo), Jayson Valdez (shooting), and Juvic Pagunsan (golf).
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