Shy swimmer from Bicol lets game do talking with 5 golds in 2026 Palaro

AGUSAN DEL SUR, Philippines – Members of the Bicol delegation describe Riley Maddaleign Alindogan as a shy girl who has little to say. 

But in the waters, she lets her performance do the talking. 

The 12-year-old has emerged as one of the stars of the 2026 Palarong Pambansa after capturing five gold medals so far following a dominant display in the elementary girls’ division. 

Alindogan, a student of St. Agnes Academy in Legazpi City, Albay, ruled the 400m freestyle, 100m breaststroke, and 4x50m medley relay together with Athena Dominique Apuli, Kenzie Bengson, and Jennelle Vien Quinto on Tuesday, May 26. 

She continued her stellar display on Wednesday, May 27, by topping the 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley. 

While Alindogan wanted to get a gold medal like everybody else, she was surprised to end up with a bunch of them. 

“I expected to win just one gold,” said Alindogan in Filipino. 

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Alindogan came close to capturing a sixth gold medal on Wednesday but fell short in the 50m breaststroke despite a swim that saw her eclipse the previous Palaro record.

Clocking 36.09 seconds to beat the old mark of 36.51 seconds set by National Capital Region’s Krystal Ava David in 2023, Alindogan still finished second to Central Luzon’s Meadow Frances Harrison, who won with a time of 35.80 seconds.

The consecutive races eventually took their toll on Alindogan.

“My events happened one after the other so I was already tired by then,” said Alindogan.

Alindogan pursued swimming as a summer activity before she fell in love with the sport when she started winning competitions.

Gold eluded Alindogan in her two previous Palaro stints in the 2024 Cebu City and 2025 Ilocos Norte editions, but her time came this year. 

“We trained hard for this because our coach knew that we had a great chance of winning medals,” said Alindogan. – Rappler.com