In the 100 m breaststroke, Pangilinan challenged seven other swimmers on the third heat, including Singapore's Nicolette Teo, who later rivaled her at the Southeast Asian Games. Swimming in lane eight, she eclipsed a personal best of 1:12.47 to touch out Teo and pick up a fifth spot and thirty-first overall by four tenths of a second (0.40). In the 200 m breaststroke, Pangilinan blasted a new Filipino record of 2:33.38 to lead the first heat against Teo and Finland's Eeva Saarinen. Pangilinan missed the semifinals by more than a second, as she placed twentieth overall in the preliminaries.