Teen swimmer Glen breaks another national record
16-year-old lowers 400m freestyle mark three days after rewriting his own 800m freestyle record
Singapore teenage swimmer Glen Lim ended the Neo Garden 14th Singapore National Swimming Championships the way he started it – with a national record.
At the OCBC Aquatic Centre on Saturday (June 23), the 16-year-old bettered Pang Sheng Jun's mark of 3:54.64s in the men's 400m freestyle with his effort of 3:54.12s, winning the race ahead of Australia's Joshua Hertz (3:56.29s) and Aflah Prawira (3:57.69s) of Indonesia.
On Wednesday, Glen had lowered his own national record of 8:18.21s in the 800m freestyle set last year with a new time of 8:15.08s.
For his dazzling performances, Glen claimed the Most Valuable Award for male swimmers, while club mate Christie Chue won the title for females.
Another Singapore teen swimmer, 15-year-old Gan Ching Hwee, claimed gold in the women's 400m freestyle in style, leading from start to finish and clocking 4min 17.37sec to finish ahead of Thailand's Natthanan Junkrajang (4:18.06s) and Ammiga Himathongkom (4:21.84s).
In the first ever Neo Garden Sprints, national swimmers Quah Ting Wen, Hoong En Qi, Roanne Ho, Amanda Lim and Teong Tzen Wei claimed the sprint titles in their respective events.
Quah won the women's 50m butterfly title in 27.20s, ahead of Thailand's Jenjira Srisa-ard (27.55s) and the Philippines' Jasmine Alkhadi (27.71s). Quah had clocked 27.99s in the quarter-finals and 27.76s in the semis.
Club mate En Qi clinched the 50m backstroke title in 29.83s, ahead of Indonesia's Aa Istri Atmaja (30.01s) and fellow Singaporean Jamie Koo (30.13s).
Defending SEA Games champions Ho and Lim claimed gold in the 50m breaststroke and 50m freestyle respectively.
Ho won in 31.61s, with Chue (32.44s) coming second and Thailand's Saovanee Boonamphai (32.58s) in third, while Lim set a new meet record of 25.38s in the final, finishing first ahead of Australia's Julia Hawkins (25.70s) and South Korea's Kuna Lee (25.76s).
In the men's 50m freestyle, Teong Tzen Wei came close to breaking the national record of 22.47s set by Joseph Schooling at the 2015 SEA Games when he touched home first in 22.52s. India's Virdhawal Khade was second with 22.68s while Jonathan Tan was third in 22.85s.
Olympic champion Joseph Schooling swam in the morning heats of the 50m freestyle and was the second best qualifer for the evening's quarter-finals, but was withdrawn due to a decision by the coaches. He did not swim in the 50m butterfly heats.
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