Jakarta, IO – Indonesian Army First Lieutenant Agus Prayogo won a marathon gold medal at the Cambodia SEA Games 2023 on Saturday, 6 May 2023. The event was held in the Angkor Wat world heritage site, Siem Reap, Cambodia.
He finished his run in 2 hours, 32 minutes, and 59 seconds, actually slower than his personal record of 2 hours, 21 minutes, and 09 seconds.
Amazingly, this was Agus’ seventh win in the Southeast Asian sports tournament: he participated in the Laos SEA Games 2009. During his debut, he won a gold in the men’s 10,000-meter run. He became number one again in both the men’s 10,000 m and 5,000 m races in the 2011 SEA Games, held in Palembang, Indonesia. After only winning a Bronze and a Silver in the 2013 SEA Games in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, and the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore, he again took glory for the men’s 10,000 m race in the 2017 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as well as a Silver for the men’s marathon. In the 2019 SEA Games in Manila, Philippines, he won a marathon Gold, only to fail to hold on to it in the 2021 SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam.
As Agus is a member of the Green Berets, Minister of Defense Prabowo Subianto duly noted his latest achievement. “Congratulations First Lieutenant Agus Prayogo for winning the SEA Games 2023 Men’s Marathon Gold Medal for Indonesia – your seventh Gold Medal in your SEA Games career,” he declared in his personal social media account.
“I am grateful that I won another Gold after only winning a Silver in Hanoi. It’s for all of Indonesia,” Agus stated as quoted by Antara. “I believe I can still compete in two or three more SEA Games. Insha Allah, by the grace of Allah, I can still serve for another 2, 3 marathons if my manager and coach still have trust in me. I am always ready to fight for my country,” he declared.
From the start of the race, Agus strove to create and maintain a distance from his opponents: “At kilometer 17, I tried to shake my competitors off and keep on the distance, because based my experience in Hanoi, I lost out because the Vietnamese runner overtook me in the final five kilometers,” he griped.