Parañaque’s Erika Yulo Visitacion rose to the challenge and bested her rivals from the National Capital Region, winning six gold medals in the NCR Qualifying Leg of the second Philippine Olympic Festival held at the Rizal pool last weekend.
Visitacion, 15, ruled the 400m individual medley and shone in the 100m free, the 50m free, the 200m free, 800m free and 200m IM to spearhead Parañaque’s charge.
Inspired by the crowd support, Visitacion bagged the gold in the 400m IM with an impressive clocking of 5.37.36, beating Angela Lopez of Las Piñas (6.18.42) and Rowena Uddin of Manila (6.56.73).
“I didn’t expect to lead my opponents by a big margin but when I heard the cheers from the crowd, I just swam harder and faster,” said Visitacion, whose feats assured her of a berth in the national championships next month.
To underscore her top form, Visitacion also prevailed in 100m free in 1.04.54; 50m free in 30.05 secs., 200m free in 2.19.44, 800m free in 10.16.45 and 200m IM in 2.37.30.
“I hope to inspire the kids in Parañaque to take up swimming so that we will have a bigger team in the future. Swimming is fun and winning is great,” said Visitacion, a Grade 9 student at the Brent International School.