AYG Swimming: Lynette Lim captures 400m freestyle gold and new national record

By Jan Lin/Red Sports

Singapore Sports School, Thursday, July 2, 2009 – It was double joy for 17-year-old Lynette Lim, who not only took the first Asian Youth Games’ (AYG) swimming gold medal, but also clocked a new national record of 4:14.25 minutes in the girls’ 400m freestyle event.

Lynette erased the women’s 400m freestyle national record of 4:16:42 minutes which she set last year at the Janet Evans Invitational in California, USA.

Winning the first AYG swimming gold in a fantastic fashion, Lynette paced herself superbly in the first 200m before gradually pulling away at the half-way mark and was uncatchable in the final 50m.

Fellow finalist Koh Hui Yu, 14, of Raffles Girls’ School just missed out on a medal as she finished in fourth position in a time of 4:22.56 minutes.

In the boys’ events, Clement Lim Yong’En clocked a time of 4:06.68 minutes in the 400m freestyle final to finish in 6th position.

Later, 13-year-old Joseph Schooling finished 8th in the 200m butterfly event with a commendable time of 2:10.79 minutes, just a whisker away from his personal best of 2:10.56 minutes set at the National Age Group Swimming Championships in March this year.

In the semi-finals of the boys’ 100m backstroke event, 16-year-old Rainer Ng Kai Wee came in first in his semi-final, and third overall, to qualify for the final in a time of 59.73 seconds.

Lionel Khoo Chien Yin and Joel Chong Cheng Peng, both from Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), finished first and third in their respective boys’ 50m breaststroke semi-final to qualify for the final.

Lionel clocked a time of 30.12 seconds to start third in the final, and Joel’s time of 31.18 seconds has handed him a sixth-placed start.