Quah Ting Wen eyes 50m free redemption after 100m free exit
Despite a "rocky start" to her Tokyo Olympics, swimmer Quah Ting Wen is looking to end it with a flourish.
Last night, the 28-year-old clocked 56.36sec in the 100m freestyle heats at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, the first of two events she will compete in here. She is also pencilled in for the 50m freestyle tomorrow.
Her time meant she finished last among eight swimmers in Heat 4, which was led by Fanny Teijonsalo of Finland (54.69sec) and placed 36th overall, out of 51 swimmers.
Quah is competing in her third Olympics through a universality place - also known as a wild card. The last time she competed in the 100m freestyle at the Olympics was at the Beijing Games in 2008. Then, she swam 56.14sec to place 34th out of 48 swimmers.
Her effort was more than 1.5sec off her national record of 54.62sec, which she clocked at the National Championships in June 2019.
Quah said she "definitely wanted to go faster" and that her race execution last night was not up to scratch.
"The race plan was to take it out (at an) easy speed but fast, then hold on to that coming back; I didn't do the holding on part very well," she said.
"The last 25m I started slipping, I kind of looked to the right a bit and that threw me off... but I'm looking forward to Friday. I think that will be more enjoyable."
There, she hopes to rewrite or at least go close to her national record of 24.92sec, which she clocked at a Fina Swimming World Cup leg in Tokyo in August 2019.
"I've only been under 25sec once and I want it not to feel like a fluke," she said.
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