Justin Kobe Macario seized the Philippines’ first gold medal of the Southeast Asian Games on Wednesday, Dec. 10, ruling the men’s individual freestyle poomsae event at the Fashion Island Shopping Mall in Bangkok. The 23-year-old stood out among six competitors, posting 8.200 points to outduel Thailand’s Koedkaew Atchariya and Malaysia’s Ken Haw Chin.

Macario said he was stunned yet grateful to deliver the country’s opening gold, crediting the result to months of training under coaches Rani Ortega and Jeordan Dominguez. His routine — packed with intricate flips and dynamic kicking sequences — earned high marks and captivated the judges.

Preparation and sacrifice lead to breakthrough gold

Macario shared that he and his coaches trained extensively in the days leading up to the event, even skipping the athletes’ parade at Tuesday’s opening ceremony for added focus. The effort paid off as he finally secured his first individual SEA Games medal after past podium finishes in mixed freestyle events.

While he has won medals in both the Asian Championships and World Championships, he described the SEA Games triumph as uniquely meaningful because of the strong field often populated by global podium finishers.

Philippines adds early medals in opening events

Thailand’s Atchariya claimed silver with 8.100 points while Malaysia’s Chin earned bronze with 7.740. Macario is scheduled to compete again later in the mixed team freestyle poomsae event.

Earlier on Wednesday, John Derrick Farr delivered Team Philippines’ first medal of the Games with a bronze in the men’s downhill mountain bike event in Chonburi, setting the stage for the country’s early medal haul.