This 1,500 Meter Runner Wins PON Gold Again After 12 Years

Deli Serdang, Todaysgist.com – Runner from the Jakarta athletics team, Aprilia Kartina, finally managed to win a gold medal in the women’s 1,500 meters at the 21st Aceh-North Sumatra National Sports Week (PON) 2024, after waiting for 12 years.

Aprilia, who is 27 years old, said that this is her third time participating in the PON event. “This gold medal is the result that I have been waiting for to achieve the highest achievement,” she said after confirming herself as the champion at the Madya Atletik Sumut Sport Center Stadium, Deli Serdang Regency, North Sumatra, Saturday (14/9/2024).

Furthermore, Aprilia said that at the 2012 PON XVIII Riau, when she was still representing the West Sumatra (Sumbar) team, she also managed to win a gold medal. However, she was absent from the 2016 PON XIX West Java, and at the 2016 PON XX Papua she had not managed to get gold, even returning home without a medal.

“I dedicate this gold to my son, because I myself did not expect to be able to overtake my opponent in the final moments of the race,” said Aprilia, who holds the rank of second sergeant (serda) and is assigned to the Indonesian Navy Headquarters (Mabes TNI AL).

Born in Payakumbuh, West Sumatra, Aprilia revealed that she had made intensive preparations to face this four-yearly national sporting event, including daily training and maintaining a diet and nutritional intake.

In addition, Aprilia is targeting an additional gold medal in the 800 meters to strengthen the medal tally for DKI Jakarta.

The Jakarta team itself successfully won two gold medals in the men’s and women’s 1,500 meters at the 21st PON Aceh-North Sumatra 2024, through the struggle of Wahyudi Putra and Aprilia Kartina. Wahyudi recorded a time of 3 minutes 50.2 seconds, while Aprilia finished the race with a time of 4 minutes 29.81 seconds.

Despite winning gold, Aprilia’s time was not enough to break the PON record held by Supriyati Sutono from West Java at the 2000 East Java XV PON, with a time of 4 minutes 26.66 seconds. Meanwhile, the national record held by Rini Budiarti from Jakarta is also still unbroken, with a time of 4 minutes 18.69 seconds, more than 11 seconds less than Aprilia’s result.

The women’s 1,500 meter final was attended by eight participants representing seven provinces, namely DKI Jakarta (two athletes), Bangka Belitung, Central Sulawesi, Papua Pegunungan, West Nusa Tenggara, Yogyakarta, and West Sumatra.