Asian Games Swimming: Three Team Singapore personal bests broken on Day 2 of competition

By Erwin Wong/Red Sports

China, Sunday, November 14, 2010 — Singapore swimmers Danny Yeo, Clement Lim and Andrew Lim set personal bests on Day two of the Asian Games swimming competition.

Danny was particularly impressive, lowering his 200 metres Freestyle pre-Games best twice en route to finishing seventh in the final, where he clocked a time that was nearly a full second quicker than his previous best of 1 minute 52.01 seconds.

The 20-year-old clocked a 1:51.70 in the heats and then improved that with his final performance of 1:51.07.

“It feels great. It is one of my biggest meets so far. It was a great experience against world-class competitors. Although I have trained very hard for this, I was still a bit surprised to be in the final,” said Danny, who holds the national 100m Freestyle record.

Clement Lim also went under the 1:52 mark for the first time when he clocked 1:51.91 in the heats. It was the eighth quickest time and advanced him to the final, where he finished eighth as well in 1:52.25.

Clement’s previous PB was a 1:52.17 clocked at the Youth Olympic Games in August. Danny and him now have the 11 fastest 200m Freestyle times of the year in Singapore.

The pair also became the first Singaporeans to go into sub 1:52 territory in the men’s 200m Freestyle since Joshua Lim swam a 1:51.76 on his way to a bronze medal at last year’s South East Asian Games.

The national record stands at 1:50.41, set by Bryan Tay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Andrew became the fifth member of the Team Singapore swimming contingent to set a personal best, when he clocked 28.93 seconds in the men’s 50m Breaststroke heats. He placed 10th and did not advance to the final, but managed to lower his PB by 0.16 seconds.

Andrew now has the joint-second fastest 50m Breaststroke time of the year by a Singaporean. He shares the spot with Secondary Three student Lionel Khoo, who could only manage a 29.34 in his heat.

Quah Ting Wen bounced back from a below-par freestyle leg in yesterday’s women’s 4x100m Medley relay final to put in a good display in today’s 4x100m Freestyle relay final.

Her opening leg time of 57.22 seconds was just 0.03 seconds away from her fastest time of the year. Ting Wen had swum her freestyle leg yesterday in 59.06, about 75 minutes after swimming the 200m Freestyle final.

Ting Wen’s lead-off leg was followed by Mylene Ong’s sub 57s split, and a couple of 57.5s legs from Amanda Lim and Koh Hui Yu, which gave Singapore fifth place in 3 minutes 49.17 seconds. It was the fourth fastest local time ever, and the best in the textile swimsuit era.

Lionel (100m Breaststroke), Rainer Ng, Zach Ong (200m Backstroke), Clement, Danny (50m Freestyle), Lynette Lim, Ting Wen (400m Freestyle), Shana Lim and Tao Li (50m Backstroke) will be in action tomorrow.

Danny and Clement will also be part of the men’s 4x200m Freestyle relay team, along with Joshua and Pang Sheng Jun, to race in the morning heats.

Results

Men’s 200m Freestyle:
Heats:
Danny Yeo: 1:51.70 (7th, personal best)
Clement Lim: 1:51.91 (8th, personal best)

Final:
Danny Yeo: 1:51.07 (7th, personal best)
Clement Lim: 1:52.25 (8th)

Men’s 50m Breaststroke Heats:
Andrew Lim: 28.93 (10th, personal best)
Lionel Khoo: 29.34 (14th)

Men’s 100m Butterfly Heats:
Nicholas Tan: 56.38 (16th)
Pang Sheng Jun: 57.15 (20th)

Women’s 4x100m Freestyle relay Final:
Quah Ting Wen (57.22), Mylene Ong (56.88), Amanda Lim (57.54), Koh Hui Yu (57.53): 3:49.17 (5th)