Natalie bent on nailing Olympic berth

MANILA, Philippines — Setting a new Philippine record was just the first step for pole vaulter Natalie Uy, who has locked her sights on making it all the way to the Tokyo Olympics next year.

The Filipino-American last week booked a new national record of 4.30 meters at the UCS Pink Panther Pit in North Carolina, smashing her gold medal-winning performance of 4.25 meters in the 30th Southeast Asian Games the Philippines hosted last December.

But she is not done just yet as she set a higher goal of meeting the 4.70-meter qualifying mark to make it to the Olympics in July.

“I’ve set my goal. If I don’t give my all, I’d be so angry with myself for like, kind of giving up,” said Uy in the Tiebreakers Times’ So She Did! podcast presented by SMART.

“And this inner desire to see what I can do, how far I can go in the sport. All the challenges are just another kind of bump in the road. You just have to keep going.”