Auckland-based sprinter Marielle Venida, an accounting student, has shown that she can run as fast or even faster than the late Lydia de Vega-Mercado when the latter was still 18 years old.
And now that she has proven herself, Venida, who studies at the University of Auckland, said she is getting ready for more challenges a possible stint with the Philippine team.
Born in the Philippines, Venida will try to prove herself in a tougher setting after she took the women’s under-20, 100-meter finals’ title in 11.65 seconds to claim her second gold medal in the recent ICTSI-Philippine Athletics Championship.
With her time, Venida surpassed De Vega-Mercado’s feat at the junior girls’ level, which was at 11.76 seconds, achieved in the 1982 Asian Championships in New Delhi.
De Vega-Mercado’s Philippine record has already been surpassed by Kayla Richardson, who also at 18 years old, beat her mark with an 11.70-second finish during the 2015 SEA Games.
In three weeks’ time, Venida will join the New Zealand’s national senior squad, an older group of athletes, when they take part in the 2024 Oceania Championships from June 1 to 9 in Suva, Fiji.
“It’s going to be tough. And it’s going to be my first time competing in the senior division,” said Venida in an interview with the Manila Standard.
Venida was born in Makati City, before her parents migrated to New Zealand when she was just two years old. Their family now lives in Howick, in the eastern suburbs of Auckland.
After hitting the entry standard of 11.78 seconds in the World Under-20 Championships in Manila, Venida will also go to the trackfest in Lima, Peru from Aug. 27 to 31.
Her father Jasper, a proud Ilocano who works as a senior programmer analyst at the Auckland University of Technology, said that they are considering a stint with a Philippine national team. He said they would gladly do so once she gets officially called up.
During the Philippine meet, Nyadau Omilla of Sarawak was second to Venida in 11.95 seconds, with Isa Pangilinan of University of Santo Tomas finishing third in 12.44 seconds.
“I think the conditions in the finals were much better than in the morning, when it was hot,” said Venida, who finished the heats in 11.73 seconds.
She also took the gold in the women’s under-20, 200-meter sprints, where she clocked 23.96 seconds.
She ran so fast that Venida came 4/10ths of a second short of hitting De Vega’s record-breaking time of 23.54 seconds, a performance which the Philippine track legend achieved in the 1981 Southeast Asian Games.
Her closest pursuers, Mailene Pamisaran and University of Santo Tomas Lea Ordinario, were way behind, finishing with times of 25.58 and 25.59 seconds for the silver and bronze medals.
“My time was better. In the morning, it was really hot,” said Venida, who made 24.10 seconds in the heats.
