Hail Cesar: Fil-Am runner breaks 800m national record

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine athletics could be witnessing the emergence of its next track queen – if Naomi Cesar isn’t the one yet.

The 17-year-old Fil-Am continued to score feats, this time adding a national record in the women’s 800 meters to the list after clocking two minutes and 6.24 seconds for the silver medal in the Oregon OSAA Outdoor State Championships.

She smashed the 2:06.75 mark set by another Fil-Am Jessica Barnard exactly a decade ago also in Portland.

“I believe Noami is on the right track,” an impressed Philippine Athletics secretary-general Jasper Tanhueco yesterday told The STAR.

“We’ve seen her progress from winning bronze to silver and gold in major competitions. She’s still young, and to run that kind of time at her age shows tremendous potential,” he added.

It came just six months after Cesar won the SEA Games gold medal in the same event in Thailand, and became the youngest from the Philippines to win a gold in the biennial meet.

In October last year, the Western Colorado University standout also snared the silver in the 3rd Asian Youth Games in Bahrain.

Next stop for Cesar is the Youth Olympic Games slated Oct. 31 to Nov. 13 in Dakar, Senegal.

“More than the record itself, what impresses me is her continuous improvement and maturity as an athlete,” said Tanhueco.