Kayla Sanchez turns SEA Games medal haul into million-peso incentive

Kayla Sanchez didn’t just dominate the pool at the 33rd Southeast Asian Games — she also emerged as one of the biggest financial winners of the Philippine campaign.

After collecting a staggering eight medals in Thailand, Sanchez is set to receive an estimated ₱1.2 million in government incentives under existing Philippine law, a tangible reward for a performance that stood above the rest of the national delegation.

The 24-year-old swimmer finished the SEA Games with three gold and five silver medals, making her the most bemedalled Filipino athlete of the meet. Her consistency across individual and relay events underscored her value not only as a standout performer but also as a cornerstone of the national swimming program.

Under Republic Act 10699, each SEA Games gold medal carries a cash incentive of ₱300,000, while a silver medal is worth ₱150,000. Team event incentives follow the same structure, with the amount divided among team members if there are fewer than five athletes.

Sanchez struck gold twice in individual events — the 100-meter backstroke and the 100-meter freestyle — immediately securing ₱600,000.  

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OUR GOLDEN SIRENA

Filipina Olympian Kayla Sanchez dazzles in her debut at the SEA Games 2025 Thailand, capping an incredible eight-medal haul with three golds and five silvers across the swimming events.#2025SEAGames #SEAGames #TibayAtTatag #SEAGames33 #SEAGamesThailand pic.twitter.com/P3tSxotEYl

— One Sports (@OneSportsPHL) December 16, 2025

She added another gold as part of the women’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay, which she shared with Heather White, Chloe Isleta, and Xiandi Chua, giving each swimmer ₱75,000 from the team incentive.

Her five silver medals further padded the total. Sanchez earned individual silvers in the 200-meter freestyle, 50-meter backstroke, and 50-meter freestyle, amounting to ₱450,000. She also picked up two relay silvers in the 4×100-meter medley and the 4×200-meter freestyle, adding another ₱75,000 from team events.

And that figure could still grow. The amount does not yet include possible additional rewards from Malacañang or incentives from the Philippine Olympic Committee, which are typically announced after major international campaigns.

Beyond the financial windfall, Sanchez’s medal haul places her in elite company. Since beginning to represent the Philippines in 2023 after previously swimming for Canada, she has quickly carved out a place alongside national legends such as Akiko Thomson and Christine Jacob. 

Thomson was the last Filipina swimmer to win three gold medals in a single SEA Games, a feat she accomplished in the 1989 Kuala Lumpur edition.

Unconfirmed reports even suggest that Sanchez’s eight-medal performance may be unprecedented for a Filipina swimmer in a single SEA Games — a testament to how transformative her presence has been for the national team.

For Sanchez, the medals tell one story. The incentives tell another. Together, they reflect a breakthrough SEA Games campaign that rewarded excellence, rewrote expectations, and firmly established her as one of the Philippines’ new standard-bearers in the pool.

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