Story by Delle Chan/Red Sports. Photos by Tan Jon Han/Red Sports
Amanda Lim pushes off the starting block during her 100 meters freestyle heats. The Singapore swimmer clocked the 12th fastest timing of 58.03 seconds to book a place in this evening’s semi-finals. (Photo 1 © Tan Jon Han/Red Sports)
Singapore Sports School, Monday, August 16, 2010 — 17-year-old Amanda Lim did the nation proud by progressing to the semi-finals of the Youth Olympic Games 100m Freestyle event, coming in a respectable 12th overall in a field of 54 hopefuls.
Amanda clocked a timing of 58.03 seconds, just 1.99 off Australia’s Emma McKeon, the leading qualifier. The latter’s heat proved to be a very close one, with all of eight swimmers coming in within 2.34s of each other.
Amanda was first off the blocks, but soon conceded the lead to Canada’s Lauren Earp, who eventually won the heat. While she failed to better her personal best (PB) of 56.16, her performance was still enough to secure her a place in tonight’s semi-finals.
The rest of Singapore’s swimmers did not manage to advance. In the same event, 16-year-old Adeline Winata clocked a timing of 1:00.64, failing to qualify for the next phase.
In the first event of the day, 17-year-old Pang Sheng Jun placed 15th overall in the heats of the Youth Men’s 200m Individual Medley with a time of 2:06.65, failing to better his PB of 2:05.80.
Sheng Jun also missed out in the Youth Men’s 100m Butterfly with his 57.08 performance. Rainer Ng clocked 57.06 in the same event. Their PBs are 55.90 and 56.46 respectively. The fastest qualifier was Kenneth To from Australia, who came in with a time of 54.16.
In the Youth Men’s 200m Freestyle, Clement Lim placed 10th overall with a timing of 1:52.17, narrowly missing qualification by a mere 0.27s. However, this bettered his PB of 1:52.28 set at June’s National Championships. Fellow 17-year-old Arren Quek’s time of 1:57.62 was just outside his PB of 1:57.35, and put him in 30th position overall.
In the final event of the morning session, Singapore’s female quartet consisting of Chriselle Koh, Cheryl Lim, Adeline and Amanda had to settle for last place in a field of 10 teams in the Youth Women’s 4x100m Medley relay.
In the second heat of the event, first swimmer Chriselle managed to touch home fourth in the backstroke, setting a new personal best of 1:08.74 in the process. However, second swimmer Cheryl was unable to hold onto fourth place in the breaststroke leg, slipping to fifth instead.
Both Adeline and Amanda tried to make up lost ground during the last two laps, but to no avail. The quartet eventually clocked a time of 4:28.56.
The semi-finals of the women’s 100m Freestyle will be held this evening at the Singapore Sports School, and is slated to commence at 7.14pm.
For Singapore fixtures and results, go to our 2010 YOG fixtures page
Students from Anglo-Chinese School posing for the camera with members and supporters from the Hungarian Swimming Team. (Photo 2 © Tan Jon Han/Red Sports)
Pang Sheng Jun swimming the Breaststroke leg of his 200m Individual Medley heats. Sheng Jun was also involved in the 100m Butterfly later in the session. (Photo 3 © Tan Jon Han/Red Sports)
Rainer Ng powers ahead in his 100m Butterfly heats. The Singapore representative came in 0.02 seconds ahead of compatriot Sheng Jun. (Photo 4 © Tan Jon Han/Red Sports)
Chriselle Koh kicks off the wall in the first leg of the 4x100m medley relay. The backstroke specialist held a slender lead over the Team Canada swimmer at the changeover. (Photo 5 © Tan Jon Han/Red Sports)
Cheryl Lim goes neck and neck with Tera van Beilen of Canada in the breaststroke leg of the relay. The Singapore swimmer was no match for the Canadian who powered ahead and finished five seconds ahead of Cheryl. Team Canada finished fifth fastest overall. (Photo 6 © Tan Jon Han/Red Sports)
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