Our highly-decorated female athlete just added yet another accomplishment.

Pro triathlete Manami Iijima-Martin captured Guam’s first gold medal of the 2022 Pacific Mini Games, cruising to victory in one hour, six minutes, six seconds of the sprint triathlon on the island of Luta (Rota).

Iijima-Martin led from start to finish and was really never threatened. Three athletes from New Caledonia finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th. The closest to Iijima-Martin finished in 1:08:51.

Out of the water, our golden girl was just two seconds in the lead before having the best bike portion of them all and then cruising through in the run section.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” she said hours after completion. “It’s been a long time since Guam got a medal in the individual triathlon, so I’m proud to have won for Guam.”

It was a 750 meter swim, 20K bike and 5K run.

MEN’S TRI

Ryan Matienzo was the top finisher for Guam in 6th place out of 16. Matienzo finished in 1:11: 31. Mark Imazu was 7th place right behind in 1:12:00, while John Carlo Baguyo finished 11th (1:17:07).

The top men’s finisher was from Tahiti in a time of 58:00.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The triathletes take a break on Tuesday before competing in the Aquathlon and Mixed Relay Team Triathlon Wednesday in Luta.