Yacine Guermali and Sonny Wagdos celebrate after winning silver and bronze, respectively, in the men's 5000-m event in the 2025 Southeast Asian Games, December 13, 2025 at the Suphachalasai National Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. POC Media
Filipino-Moroccan Yacine Guermali put up a brave run, before settling for the silver medal in the athletics' competition of the 2025 Southeast Asian Games at the Suphachalasai National Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
The 25-year-old long-distance runner from Gonzaga University clocked 14 minutes and 47.33 seconds to finish behind Thailand's Kieran Tuntivate in the men's 5000m on Saturday.
The Thai champion ruled the event, capturing the gold medal with a time of 14:46.38.
Another Filipino campaigner, Sonny Wagdos, posted a personal-best time of 14:48.01 for the bronze.
"It's amazing. I feel like as the race developed, we were still towards the front of the race. So I had a feeling that we would both be in the medal contention. So it's nice to have two medals in one event for the Philippines," said Guermali.
"I'm based in the United States, so just a lot of training. A lot of preparation probably since September in particular to prepare for this event. And then I got here, I arrived in Bangkok on Monday. So yeah, just trying to recover from the travel and the jet lag and prepare good for today. So happy with the medal," added Guermali.
Guermali and Wagdos will return to action Tuesday as they compete in the men's 10,000-meter race.
In the women's 5,000 meters, Joina Gagnao claimed the bronze medal after clocking 17 minutes and 09.87 seconds, finishing behind Vietnam's Thi Oanh Nguyen and Thi Tuyet Nguyen, who captured the gold and silver medals, respectively.
In the women's 200 meters, Nelson Zion Rose delivered another podium finish for the Philippines by securing the bronze medal.
Rose clocked 23.50 seconds, 0.45 second behind Singapore's Veronica Shanti Pereira, who took the gold with a winning time of 23.05 seconds. Vietnam's Le Thi Cam Tu claimed the silver medal after posting 23.14 seconds.
Meanwhile, Ana Bhianca Espenilla delivered a respectable performance to claim the bronze medal in the women's javelin throw, unleashing her best effort on her final attempt.
The 18-year-old newcomer registered a personal-best throw of 51.66 meters.
Thailand's Jariya Wichaidit secured the gold medal with 55.64, while Malaysia's Jing Xuan Ng settled for silver with 52.17.
In the men's shot put, William Morrison III settled for the bronze medal with a throw of 16.66 meters.
"It was terrible. It was a bad time. Worst I've done in years," said Morrison.
READ: William Morrison concerned over officiating after shot put bronze
Malaysia's Jonah Chang Rigan captured the gold and rewrote the SEA Games record with a massive 18.78-meter effort, eclipsing the previous mark of 18.14 meters set by Morrison during the 2021 edition in Vietnam. Thailand's Thongchai Silamool completed the podium with the silver medal after registering a throw of 16.80 meters.
In the 4x400-meters, Alfred Talplacido, Angel Watson, Alhryan Labita and Bernalyn Bejoy settled for the bronze medal.
Vietnam took the gold while host Thailand finished second.