Shanti wins 100m gold in 11.95 sec in Malaysia

It fell just shy of her national record of 11.89sec in the 100 metres, but it re-affirmed the fact that Shanti Pereira is in scintillating form. 

The 17-year-old clocked 11.95sec at the Malaysia Open Athletics Championships in Perlis yesterday, a time that was enough for gold, beating Malaysian Zaidatul Husna Zulkifli (12.06) and Indonesia's Dedeh Irawati (12.23). 

Just 10 days ago, Shanti became the first Singaporean woman to go under 24 seconds for the 200m, clocking 23.99s at Taiwan's Asian Junior Athletics Championships. 

She clocked a personal best  11.79 at the same meet in the 100m, a time that was not ratified as a national record due to wind conditions failing to meet IAAF regulations. 

Shanti clocked her national record of 11.89 at last year's IAAF World Youth Championships in Ukraine. 

But it appears that Singapore's fastest woman is competing near the top of her game. 

"Clocking times like these does make me feel good, like I'm on fire. I did think I could do better in the 100m, but I am confident that I can break that record soon," said Shanti, who is not quite done rewriting the record books yet. 

Shanti will take part in next month's World Junior Championships in the United States, but she will run only in the 200m because her 2014 times failed to meet the 11.90 qualifying time for the 100m. 

The next time she lines up for the century sprint will be at the Asian Games in September. 

"Having back-to-back competitions like I'm having now is good, it really puts me in competition mode...and I am looking forward to competing against opponents who are, on paper, better than me - it challenges me to go even faster," she said. 

Singapore also won bronze in Perlis yesterday, with T Piriyah clocking 58.15 in the women's 400m.

She came in behind Malaysian duo of Nurul Faezah (56.38) and Shareen Samson (57.75).

Shanti will line up in the 4x100m today.