Kira Ellis gets triathlon silver for 5th SEA Games medal after bout with food poisoning

RAYONG, Thailand – Young triathlon star Kira Ellis battled back from food poisoning to complete a five-medal haul in the 2025 Southeast Asian Games as she clinched silver in the women’s individual event at the Laem Mae Phim Beach here on Friday, December 19.

Ellis, 19, reached the end of the 750m swim, 20km bike, and 5km race in 1 hour, 1 minute, and 2.8 seconds to finish behind Indonesia’s Martina Ayu Pratiwi and secure a medal in all of her five events after winning two golds and two silvers in the team relays. 

She captured her two triathlon golds as part of the all women relay and mixed team relay in the morning of Wednesday, December 17, before she got hospitalized in the evening due to food poisoning.

“Not getting good rest and doing four events before and then not getting sleep and just puking for a few hours straight was not ideal. It definitely did take a toll out of my energy. But the training is there, I knew despite everything, we just have to block that out and give our best,” said Ellis.

Ellis also competed solo on Friday when all of the other four participating nations each fielded two athletes as her teammate, Raven Alcoseba, suffered from food poisoning as well on the eve of the race.

Like Ellis, Alcoseba spent time in the hospital, with officials and coaches of the Triathlon Association of the Philippines opting to just let her rest instead of compete. 

“It was just really unfortunate because she really should be here more than me. She’s our strongest athlete. If she was here, I think things would be a lot different,” said Ellis of Alcoseba. 

“I’m really heartbroken that we couldn’t race together because I know how hard she worked and I know what we can do together. I’m happy I just got to the start line and did my best for the Philippines.” 

The second-fastest girl out of the waters, Ellis led the pack after the bike portion but got overtaken by Pratiwi in the transition to the run, with the Indonesian taking the gold with a time of 1:00:11.22.

Singapore’s Herlene Natasha Yu bagged bronze with 1:02:41.00

“I’m happy. I did five events and I couldn’t be more proud of the team and myself,” said Ellis, who saw action in three of the last four days as she won a pair of aquathlon silvers on Tuesday, December 16. 

“We really gave a fight with Indonesia so it was very exciting and I’m just proud of everyone. We were all in the camp together and we all know how hard we worked and I think everyone came here and gave it their best. We learned from the first day and we fought the second day and we got three golds that day. That was amazing.”

In the men’s individual triathlon, Kim Remolino and Fernando Casares gave the Philippines a silver-bronze finish with times of 55:02.73 and 56:56.34. 

Indonesia’s Rashif Amila Yaqin (54:36.84) won the gold. – Rappler.com