A Day with Kim Mangrobang

Kim Mangrobang is a decorated Filipino triathlete known for her performances in Southeast Asia and beyond, winning multiple gold medals in the South East Asian Games. In the 2023 SEA Games, she clinched gold in the duathlon and silver in the triathlon, showcasing her versatility and endurance across disciplines.

We spent a day with Kim at the Vermosa Sport Hub to better understand her training regimen, talk about the year that just ended and her goals for 2025.

How was your 2024 season?

I had a rough start in 2024. Actually, I was trying to qualify for the Olympics. I was doing a training camp in January, February, and March, preparing for the Asian Championship. But I didn’t do well there. After that, I thought, 'I’m not going to qualify for the Olympics anymore.'"

Why do you think you didn’t perform well?

Maybe it was a lot of pressure. As a Filipino athlete, there are so many challenges. You need to travel with a visa all the time. Triathlon is already a tough sport—it’s three sports in one. Traveling with bikes makes it even harder. Competing internationally has so many obstacles, and that was one of the reasons I struggled.

What happened after you realized you wouldn’t qualify for the Olympics?

At first, I was really sad. I talked to my Brazilian coach, and he told me to take some rest, restart, and think about what’s next. As an athlete, we think in four-year cycles toward the Olympics. After the qualification period ended, I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I wanted to keep training and racing. That’s what I love to do. I told my coach, 'Maybe I’ll just continue this until I can.

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For the Philippines, the goal is always to win gold. My teammates and I are pushing hard to make that happen.

Do you have bigger goals beyond 2025?

After 2025, we’ll continue racing in the World Cup, Asian Cup, and Asian Games. Triathletes have a complicated life. We race a lot to accumulate points for the Olympics, so we’re constantly traveling. It’s like being on tour all the time.

What is a typical training day for you?

If I’m in the Philippines, we usually start at 6 a.m. because of the weather. We train until around 9 a.m., before it gets too hot, and then resume from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. before it gets dark. Abroad, like when I train in the USA, I can start at 9 a.m. and finish by lunchtime, and the afternoons are flexible. It’s stricter here in the Philippines. As triathletes, we train seven times a week. There’s no rest unless we tell our coach we’re too tired and need a day off.