14th place finish for our Pinoy marathon runners

c/o POC/PSC

Richard Salaño pushed his body to the absolute limit at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, battling through a severe bout of the flu and in-race sickness to cross the finish line of the men's marathon on Saturday.

Salaño clocked 2 hours, 20 minutes and 34 seconds to secure a 14th place finish. He arrived just under 10 minutes behind champion, Japan's Ichitaka Yamashita, who ruled the event with in 2:10:49.

Following the grueling race, Salaño took to social media to apologize to his supporters, revealing the sheer physical distress he endured on the course. Still recovering from a prolonged flu, the Filipino runner shared that he had to rely on paracetamol just to fight off a fever and make it to the starting line.

Compounding his physical struggles, his in-race energy intake did not sit well with his ailing body, causing him to vomit during the run.

"Sorry Ma'am and Sir! I try my best today pero kulang pa din. I am not fully recovered, nagtake lang ng paracetamol para malabanan ang lagnat," Salaño wrote in his heartfelt post. "Hindi namin gusto matrangkaso ng matagal, pasensya na sa inyo."

The illness has swept through the Philippine marathon camp in Nagoya. Just yesterday, Salaño's teammate and current Philippine record-holder, Sonny Wagdos, was forced to make the painful decision to withdraw from the competition entirely due to the exact same ailment.

Meanwhile, in the women's marathon, Filipina runner Artjoy Torregosa also checked in at 14th place. She completed the demanding course with a time of 2 hours, 48 minutes, and 36 seconds. The women's race was conquered by Bahrain's Shitaye Habte, who captured the gold medal in 2:27:31.