Olympic-bound Kristina Knott tests positive for COVID-19

Kristina Knott has tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

PATAFA president Philip Ella Juico bared the news on Wednesday afternoon, hours after the announcement the Filipino-American sprinter has punched her ticket to this year's Tokyo Olympics.

Knott, along with her coach Rohsaan Griffin, underwent the COVID-19 testing on Monday and got their results Tuesday, just moments before she saw action in a tournament in Sweden.

This came despite Knott already being fully vaccinated since last May but according to her mentor, the 2019 SEA Games gold medalist was asymptomatic and is currently quarantined.

"Kristina contracted COVID-19, she was tested positive yesterday, hours before her second to the last competition, the last one would be in Finland," Juico said in an online press conference.

"Kristina has tested positive despite the vaccines she got around the middle of May in the U.S."

Juico said that the recent development would hardly affect Knott's preparation and participation in the Summer Games.

"That (her spot) would be retained. She's not yet in Japan and she has about a month to recover," Juico, a longtime sports official, added.

"This is more mental than physical. This is a warning signal to everybody because everybody is in danger and exposed to this virus."

Knott is the 15th Filipino athlete seeing action in this year's Summer Games and the second to formalize an entry on Wednesday after judoka Kiyomi Watanabe also secured her berth.

They would join EJ Obiena (pole vault), Carlos Yulo (gymnastics), Hidilyn Diaz and Elreen Ando (weightlifting), Eumir Marcial, Irish Magno, Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio (boxing), Criz Nievarez (rowing), Kurt Barbosa (taekwondo), Margielyn Didal (skateboarding), Jayson Valdez (shooting), and Juvic Pagunsan (golf).

—MGP, GMA News