OUT WITH THE OLD: Records fall at 65th Palarong Pambansa

LAOAG City, Ilocos Norte — A bevy of records fell Tuesday in the 65th Palarong Pambansa at the Ferdinand E. Marcos Stadium.

In athletics, Jhul Ian Cañalita of Central Visayas clocked in 15 minutes and 16.31 seconds in the secondary boys 5000-meter run to set a new Palaro record.

Cañalita, who hails from Bohol, erased the previous record of 15:38.4 set by Cresencio Cabal of Southern Mindanao in the 1998 Palaro in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental.

What makes this victory even sweeter for the 16-year-old distance runner was that he finally redeemed himself after settling for a silver in last year’s Palaro in Cebu City.

“I do pull-ups and speed work. We also did endurance training,” Cañalita said.

More than the accolade, Cañalita is dedicating his performance and devoting his medal to his grandparents Primo and Elena, who took care of him after his parents separated.

“They were the ones who have been taking care of me since my parents separated,” an emotional Cañalita said.

Meanwhile, in swimming, Reinielle Jan Miko Trinidad shattered the boys 13-18 50m butterfly event after clocking 25.23 seconds.

The swimmer from CALABARZON erased the previous record of 25.25 seconds set by TJ Amaro in last year’s Palaro in the Queen City of the South.

Trinidad, 17, admitted that going up against Amaro helped him sharpen his own skills.

“He (Amaro) is an inspiration. Me and TJ would always face one another in swim meets and we would talk on the phone afterwards,” Trinidad said.

Also tearing records in the Palaro are Miko Villaran of Western Visayas as he set a new mark in the secondary boys 110m hurdles by clocking in 14 seconds and erasing the previous-best 14.68 seconds by Patrick Unso in the 2010 Palaro.

Also from Western Visayas, Josh Gabriel Salcedo sets a record 45.52m in the secondary boys discus throw and shattered the previous record of 42.86m by compatriot Airex Villanueva in the 2023 Palaro in Marikina City.

As of 3 p.m. of Tuesday, the National Capital Region (NCR) leads the overall medal tally with 16 golds, 10 silvers and three bronze medals.

Arman Hernandez Jr. of NCR is in the running to be this year’s most bemedalled athlete in the Palaro after winning in the horizontal bars (9.300), vault (9.300), floor exercise (9.200), individual all-around (36.300), and team individual all-around (115.500) events in the elementary boys artistic gymnastics cluster 1 (ages 7-9) at the Ilocos Norte National High School Gymnasium.

Meanwhile, CALABARZON sits in second place with a 12-13-7 gold-silver-bronze medal tally while Western Visayas sits in third place with seven golds, five silvers and seven bronze medals.

Day 3 gets off the ground at 6 a.m. with secondary boys 3000m steeplechase, elementary girls shot put, and elementary boys high jump.