By REDintern Romaine Soh
T. Piriyah on her way to breaking the record and winning the gold in a time of 58.60 seconds. (Photo 1 © Wayne Sim/Red Sports)
ITE College East (Simei), Saturday, January 26, 2013 — T. Piriyah of the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) set a new championship record when she won the 400m final in a time of 58.60 seconds at the Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IVP) Track and Field Championships.
The first three finishers bettered the old record of 60.26 which was set in 2010 by Nikita Sharda of NTU.
Wendy Enn of Republic Polytechnic (RP) had initially led in the first half of the race. However, her accumulated fatigue from racing the 100m heats, 400m heats and breaking the record in the 100m finals, all in the span of a mere two and a half hours, allowed Piriyah to blaze past in the last 200m to finish well ahead of her with more than a second to spare.
Goh Chui Ling from NUS set a personal best in this race, going under the 60s barrier to win the bronze with a timing of 59.98.
Said Piriyah: “I’m quite happy with my performance, since this is my first race after recovering from my injury, which did not allow me to go for the ASEAN University Games in 2012.”
It was Piriyah’s fastest 400m time since the Singapore Open in August 2011, when she ran a 58.59.
In 2008, Piriyah set her quarter-mile personal best of 57.11, which is also the National Schools B Division 400m record, as well as the National Youth and Under-17 marks.
Piriyah will next race in the 400m hurdles. She holds the national record of 61.69 seconds set in July 2010, and also the National Schools B Division mark of 63.86.
“I have no expectations of my hurdles race, since I have not done the event for a long time!” Piriyah said with a laugh.
She will cross swords with 400m bronze medalist Goh Chui Ling in the 400m hurdles.
400m Results
1st T. Piriyah (Nanyang Technological University) — 58.60s
2nd Wendy Enn (Republic Polytechnic) — 59.62s
3rd Goh Chui Ling (National University Singapore) — 59.98s
4th Ree Tyra Summer (Republic Polytechnic) — 63.03s
5th Monteiro Amelia Yuting (National University Singapore) — 63.04s
6th Lau Wan Qi Gina (Nanyang Polytechnic) — 66.77s
7th Nur Hamizah (Institute of Technical Education) — 66.78s
8th Ng Shi Mei (Nanyang Polytechnic) — 70.20s
