Emma finishes as top female Asian triathlete at YOG
Singapore's Emma Middleditch found herself in 30th position out of 32 competitors after the 750m swim leg of the Youth Olympics women's triathlon final on Sunday.
But over the next two legs - the 20km bike and 5km run - she made a stirring comeback, moving up 19 rungs to finish at 11th, clocking a personal best of 1:01:04 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
"The swim is my weakest leg, so I was just trying to hang on and push. I was hoping I could catch up. Because if this was it, it would be such a shame," said the 16-year-old, who studies at the French School of Singapore.
First place went to South Africa's Amber Schlebusch, who clocked 58:45, but Emma finished as the top Asian, above South Korea's Lee Jung Won (19th), China's Yu Xinying (20th), Japan's Maki Uchida (25th) and Hong Kong's Lo Ho Yan (27th).
"That's what I like about triathlons - it's never over until the end. You just got to keep hope because anything can happen," said Emma.
Her next race will be on Thursday in the mixed team relay, a feature of the YOG to promote friendships among athletes of various nationalities.
Emma was not the only Singapore athlete who achieved an individual record.
Over in the pool, swimmers Christie Chue and Maximillian Ang also set personal bests.
Christie, 17, swam her best time of 31.95sec during the 50m breaststroke heats on Sunday, bettering her previous time of 32.38. She missed out on the final after placing 13th out of 16 in the semi-finals when she clocked 32.86.
Yesterday, she finished 16th out of 45 with a time of 56.92sec in the women's 100m freestyle heats to qualify for the semi-finals.
Maximillian, meanwhile, clocked his personal best of 2:05.96 in the men's 200m individual medley heats yesterday, finishing 12th out of 22 competitors.
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