Adorna targets Olympic glory
After completing a 1-2 finish with compatriot Kim Mangrobang in women’s triathlon in the recently concluded SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, silver medalist Claire Adorna sets her sights on nothing less than the 2020 Olympics.
Troubled by a calf injury in the run stage of the SEAG race, Adorna, done with therapy sessions, resumed her training yesterday with coach Ani de Leon-Brown in Nuvali to start her buildup for the Games.
“For me, it shouldn’t stop with the SEA Games because our priority is our long-term goal which is the Olympics,” said Adorna, who copped the gold medal in the 2015 edition of the biennial meet.
Lined up for Adorna for the rest of the year are three ITU Triathlon World Cup events in China (September), Korea (October) and Japan (November), priming her up for the coming year where she could start piling up points for her Olympic bid.
Adorna also targets a Top Five finish in the 2018 Asian Games and another run at the 2019 SEA Games.
De Leon-Brown said that they would focus on strengthening Adorna’s running skills, the hardest stage for the 24-year-old triathlete who was a swimmer practically all her life and was only introduced to triathlon in 2013.
Adorna became a member of the national team the following year, after topping her age group in SuBIT, her first competition, and besting her would-be-coach De LeonBrown in the elite level of her second competition, the Safeguard 5150, where she was recruited to don the tricolors.
“Swimming is really my strength while running is what I find most difficult. I’m like a fish thrown on land,” the triathlon late-bloomer said.
Adorna started swimming at the age of four and was already a member of the swimming team of the University of the Philippines in college when she was introduced to the sport by a triathlete friend who lent her his bike.
Her dad encouraged her to try biking as a means to save up on gas expenses, then saw the sport, including running, as an opportunity for her to crosstrain and cut on her weight. So the father-and-daughter pair would bike from their Marikina home to UP. Her dad would then ask her to run the 2.2-km oval before swimming in the afternoon.
“I enjoyed biking and running only because I noticed I was losing weight. I even told my friend, why are you doing a lot of things? You swim, you bike and then you run, while I only do swimming. Only to find out later on that this is what I would eventually do,” said Adorna.
Her swimming coach, a former triathlete, noticed what the father-and-daughter tandem was doing for her extra work, and urged her to join her first triathlon competition.
Discouraged at first by the registration fee – it cost P5,000 which could have made her join seven swimming events at P700 – Adorna eventually signed up as she was lent the needed amount.
Almost all of her equipment were borrowed, except for her goggles and rubber shoes, but she went on to rule the event. The wins just kept on piling up from there.
Recruited by De LeonBrown for the national team after her second competition, Adorna snared the bronze in her first international race, the New Taipei ASTC Triathlon Asian Cup, and wound up seventh in the Asian Games, both in 2014. The following year, she won the gold in the SEA Games despite being hounded by a peroneal tendon tear injury.
“The Filipinos could really excel in triathlon. We also want to become role models to everyone kasi gusto rin naming mapagpatuloy pa nila. It really feels good to show our capabilities as Filipinos,” said Adorna.
De Leon-Brown believes that Adorna has what it takes to make it to the quadrennial games.
“She works really hard when she needs to. She can handle pressure. You can see her work ethic. She has a very big chance. We’ll just support them and we’ll keep on doing what we’re doing right now,” said De Leon-Brown before adding, “We’ll see you in Tokyo.”