Marestella targets 3rd Olympic stint

MANILA, Philippines – Long jump queen Marestella Torres may possibly get a third stint at the Olympics next year in Rio, either by universality place or direct qualification.

Torres is still vying to meet the Entry Standard of 6.70 meters but in case she falls short, Patafa president Philip Ella Juico said Torres enjoys the inside track in the association’s choice for the universality slot for the women’s.

Under the qualification guidelines for the Rio Games, an NOC with a qualified male athlete may enter its “best female athlete” in one event and vice versa. Fil-Am Eric Cray had already earned his slot in the men’s 400-meter hurdles as he passed the 49.40-second standard with his 49.12-second effort.

“We’ll probably nominate her (Torres) for universality place because we already have a qualified male athlete (Cray). But if she meets the standard, then that’s better,” said Juico.

Torres, together with another Rio aspirant, pole-vaulter EJ Obiena will try to make the grade during the Rio-qualifying 13th Asian Cross Country Championships in Manama, Bahrain and other tourneys like the Asian Indoor Championships in Qatar.

Obiena is currently in Poland training under Vitaly Petrov, the Ukrainian mentor who also coached pole vault greats Sergei Bubka and Yelena Isinbayeva. The University of Santo Tomas ace recently broke the Phl record with a 5.45-m effort and is said to have further improved his record during training. Obiena is gunning to meet the 5.70-m qualifying standard.

SEA Games-winning runners Melvin Guarte, Edgardo Alejan and Christopher Ulboc will also seek slots. The troika, according to Juico, is set to undergo a three-month training in Australia.

“Everything’s geared for the Olympics. If they fail to make it to Rio, they’ll be good for the SEA Games in 2017, the Asian Games in 2018, the 2019 SEA Games and the 2020 Olympics. It’s a long-range plan,” said Juico.