Rachel Yang and Chan Sheng Yao vault to new national and age-group records in meeting SEA Games qualifying marks

Bukit Gombak Stadium, Saturday, July 16, 2011 — Pole Vaulters Rachel Yang and Chan Sheng Yao cleared personal best heights which bettered the South-east Asian (SEA) Games qualifying marks at the Singapore Athletic Association (SAA) Track and Field Series 5 meet today.

Rachel, 29, cleared 3.82 metres to break her own national record by one centimetre. Her second clearance at 3.75m, her opening height, met the SEA Games qualifying mark, which is benchmarked at the bronze medal-winning result of the previous Games in 2009.

Rachel then raised the bar to 3.82m, which she went over on her first attempt to better her national mark of 3.81m set at a Pole Vault Series meet last August. She was subsequently unsuccessful at heights of 3.90 and 4.00m.

Hwa Chong Institution Secondary Three student Sheng Yao, 15, became the youngest track and field athlete in recent local history to meet a SEA Games qualifying mark. Not unlike Rachel, Sheng Yao cleared the 2009 Games third-placing mark of 4.50m on his second attempt. It bettered his personal best of 4.38m, but Sheng Yao was not done. His first attempt at the 4.62m-height saw him brush against the bar on his way down, but the contact was not significant enough to dislodge it.

This was a new national under-17 record, which along with Rachel’s women’s national mark, is pending ratification by the SAA. It broke national record holder Sean Lim’s mark of 4.61m set at the National Junior Championships two years ago. Sheng Yao also holds the national under-15 mark of 4.00m.

Sprinter Gary Yeo came within 0.01 seconds of the SEA Games qualifying mark in the 100 metres. He clocked a personal best of 10.62 seconds into a headwind of 0.3 metres per second.

This meet was the final one before the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) meet next week to decide on the list of athletes selected for the SEA Games held in Palembang and Jakarta between November 11th to 25th.

List of track and field athletes who have met the SEA Games 2011 qualifying mark