MANILA, Philippines - Mark Harry Diones came through with a personal best leap to erase the nine-year-old national triple jump record in the PATAFA weekly relays at the Philsports Complex in Pasig last Sunday.
Diones, a 22-year-old native Libmanan, Camarines Sur, leapt to 16.29 meters to eclipse the 16.12m mark set by Joebert Delicano in the 2009 Vientiane Southeast Asian Games.
The Jose Rizal U Criminology graduate’s effort also surpassed Thai Varunyoo Kongnil’s SEAG silver medal standard of 16.20m and the bronze medal mark of 15.92m set by Vietnamese Nguyen Van Hung in the biennial games in Singapore last year.
Malaysian Muhammad Hakimi Ismail took the gold in 16.76, a SEAG record.
Diones wound up fourth in Singapore.
The new record was officially recognized by PATAFA secretary-general Renato Unso and board member Janet Obiena after Diones’ jump had a wind reading below 2.0.
National coach Jojo Posadas said with the proper training, Diones will have a chance to challenge for the gold in the next SEAG edition in Malaysia in 2017.
“We need to step up his training and compete more internationally and hopefully, he gets better for the next year’s SEA Games,” said Posadas of Diones, a multiple gold medalist in the NCAA.
Diones said he hopes to compete in more international tournaments as part of his buildup for next year’s SEA Games.
“Mission accomplished, it’s now time for me to go to the next level,” Diones posted on his Facebook account.