Asiad prospect 4: The Ironman

7. Jesson Ramil Cid

The last time the Philippines won a SEA Games decathlon gold was courtesy of Fidel Gallenero in 2001.  And at the Asian continental level, since the 70s, we never had a medalist in this event.  But an interesting twist of fate happened in 2007, a raw talent was spotted by no less than Mike Keon at an Ilocos regional event and was quickly referred to Coach Andaya of FEU.

Cid is very competitive in the running events

Jesson Ramil Cid’s skills was polished at FEU, and he quickly showed what his talent is all about.  Aside from the decathlon, he also competed in individual events like long jump, 110m hurdles, 200m, 400m hurdles and 400m where he consistently win medals as well.  With so many events he was competing in at the UAAP’s four-day event, his decathlon points are somewhat diluted.

But with Cid concentrating now at the Decathlon following his graduation last 2013, expect a tremendous spike in his performance.

Lets take a look at Cid’s national record breakdown as compared to the 2010 Asian Games bronze medalist Vu Van Huyen of Vietnam and 2014 Asian leader Keisuke Ushiro of Japan:

 

Events	Cid	Huyen	Ushiro
100m	10.89	10.76	11.24
Long Jump	7.05	7.16	7.15
Shotput	11.71	11.80	15.19
High jump	1.97	1.97	2.03
400m	48.16	48.93	49.66
110m H	15.52	15.13	14.90
Discuss	26.67	41.36	50.17
Pole Vault	4.10	4.70	4.80
Javelin	47.63	55.14	69.11
1500m	4:35	4:30	4:42
Total	7,070	7,755	8,308

Clearly, Cid’s weakpoints are the throwing and jumping events.  His speed and stamina are without question.  In fact he is very competitive at the 100m, 400m and 1500m even at the world level.  Cid can potentially be a world-class athlete and realistically vie for a medal in 2016 Olympics and 2017 World Championships.  But first he needs to be guided and trained by world-class coaches in the throws and jumps (with all due respect to his current coaches).

Cid needs to improve on his throws to realize his full potential in the decathlon

Asian toplist as of August 31, 2014

1	8308	Keisuke USHIRO	24-Jul-86	JPN	1	Nagano	1-Jun-14
	( 11.24/-0.6 – 7.15/-0.5 – 15.19 – 2.03 – 49.66 / 14.90/0.1 – 50.17 – 4.80 – 69.11 – 4:32.62 )
2	8035	Akihiko NAKAMURA	23-Oct-90	JPN	2	Nagano	1-Jun-14
	( 10.80/-1.3 – 7.35/2.0 – 12.44 – 2.03 – 47.48 / 14.21/0.1 – 35.01 – 4.90 – 50.40 – 4:15.03 )
3	7804	Qi GUO	28-Dec-90	CHN	1	Zhaoqing	20-Apr-14
	( 11.32/0.3 – 7.11/-0.2 – 13.18 – 2.07 – 50.00 / 14.34/0.5 – 42.28 – 5.00 – 48.65 – 4:38.25 )
4	7756	Dmitriy KARPOV	23-Jul-81	KAZ	1	Asikkala	16-Aug-14
	( 11.15/0.1 – 6.72/0.0 – 15.98 – 2.02 – 50.21 / 14.64/0.1 – 47.48 – 4.80 – 47.42 – 4:54.44 )
5	7604	Takumi OTOBE	22-Apr-89	JPN	3	Nagano	1-Jun-14
	( 10.67/-1.3 – 7.42/2.5 – 12.49 – 1.91 – 48.49 / 14.87/0.1 – 36.63 – 4.80 – 48.13 – 4:46.79 )
6	7582	Yufei HU	9-Nov-93	CHN	2	Zhaoqing	20-Apr-14
	( 11.24/0.5 – 7.17/0.8 – 13.50 – 2.01 – 50.27 / 14.56/0.5 – 41.89 – 4.60 – 49.22 – 4:47.43 )
7	7515	Kazuya KAWASAKI	2-Sep-92	JPN	5	Nagano	1-Jun-14
	( 10.99/-1.3 – 7.15/-0.4 – 10.77 – 2.03 – 49.99 / 15.49/0.7 – 37.20 – 4.70 – 56.12 – 4:32.80 )

Prospect: With at least 7 Asians scoring 7,700 points this 2014, Cid will have a very tough fight among the ironmen of the continent.  Potentially, Cid can score 7,300 points and establish a new Philippine record.

Best: 5th Worst: 8th

Sources: IAAF, Jad Adrian Washif, Wikipedia, Rappler.com

Photocredits: Getty images/AFP, Soe Than Win/AFP