STA. CRUZ, Laguna--Palarong Pambansa secondary boys sprint king Jomar Udtohan's performance for the ages can be likened to that of former Asian track star Lydia de Vega-Mercado in the early 80s.
"Lydia de Vega-Mercado," said Renato Unso, who is a star like de Vega-Mercado in the Gintong Alay days or the golden era of Phl athletics being the region's top hurdler, when asked by The STAR who can he compare Udtohan's effort on Friday.
Udtohan, representing San Sebastian of the National Capital Region, became the first athlete in more than two decades to complete a rare sprint treble while shattering all three meet records in 100m, 200m and 400m.
The last one to accomplish such spectacular feat was no other than De Vega-Mercado, who also won and destroyed all three events in the 1982 edition of the annual multi-sports meet for elementary and secondary boys in Zamboanga, del Norte.
"I've been in the Palaro long enough to know that no one has ever done it in the Palaro since Lydia (de Vega-Mercado," said Unso, who was here in this week-long meet as one of track and field's top technical officials.
The proud son of San Rafael, Bulacan, whose parents vends fishball for a living, in fact, posted four records, all posted in the late 90s, one in century dash, the second in the 400m and the other the 200m twice--in the heats and finals.
And regardless of the results of his 4x100m and 4x400m relayb races at press time, Udtohan has already proven his worth.
Like what de Vega-Mercado did during her time.