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E-mailFilipina long-jump queen Marestella Torres faltered badly in the 2010 International Association of Athletics Federations World Indoor Championships (IAAF-WIC) held last Saturday at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar.
Torres tied for the 19th and 20th spot out of 21 competitors with a maximum length of 6.06 meters in her second jump. Her first jump measured 5.75 meters and her third, 5.89 meters. The longest jump in three tries is the one counted in the tournament trials.
Torres, who is expected to lead the national athletics team in the upcoming Guangzhou Asiad, expressed no disappointment in her performance in the prestigious biennial world meet. “Playing against some of the world’s best jumpers is a good opportunity for me because you’ll learn their techniques and styles as well as their regimens before the competition proper,” she explained on Manila Bulletin.
Competing in her first international indoor tournament, Torres has a personal best and Philippine record of 6.68 meters achieved in the 2009 Laos Southeast Asian (SEA) Games. Had she duplicated that mark, she could have snatched the IAAF-WIC silver medal, a few inches behind gold medalist Brittney Reese of the United States (6.70 meters) and a hairline ahead of silver medalist Naide Gomes of Portugal (6.67 meters). Keila Kosta of Brazil won the bronze medal with a length of 6.63 meters on her first try, edging Estonia's Kseinjia Balta, who jumped with the same length but only on her third attempt.
Torres, together with four other women athletes, was named 2009 Athlete of the Year by the Philippine Sportswriters Association. She is a three-time SEA Games gold medalist, the long jump champion in the 2009 Asian Athletics Association Championships, and a veteran of the 2008 Sydney Olympics, where she placed 18th.
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