A Div 400m hurdles: Ow Yeong Yu Xiang of HCI clocks fast time of 56.33 to win

Ow Yeong Yu Xiang (left) of HCI on his way to winning the A DIv 400m Hurdles final in 56.33. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)

Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Thursday, April 5, 2012 – Ow Yeong Yu Xiang of Hwa Chong Institution clocked a fast time of 56.33 seconds to win the boys’ A Division 400 metres Hurdles title at the 53rd National Schools Track and Field Championships.

The 17-year-old athlete pulled away from schoolmate Samuel Tay at the final bend to win the gold medal in a time which placed him as Singapore’s fastest runner this year over the 0.914m-high hurdles.

It was also a time which ranked high in the history of this event at the Championships. It was the fourth fastest time since electronic timing (ET) was introduced in 1995.

Defending champion Timothee Yap, also a schoolmate of Yu Xiang at Hwa Chong, pulled out of the event in the heats because of a hamstring injury. Timothee set the ET record of 54.80 last year on his way to the gold medal.

The hand-timed record is 54.6, set by Syed Abdul Malik Aljunied, then of Raffles Junior College, in 1986.

Yu Xiang also won the bronze medal in the 400m final on Tuesday, April 3rd, in a personal best time of 51.00.

Samuel finished second in the A Div 400m Hurdles final in a time of 57.93. It was his fifth 400m hurdles medal in six years of competition at the Schools’ championships, tying a record set by Marc Ong, formerly of Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) and Anglo-Chinese Junior College. Marc did not make the final in 1999 but went on to win five consecutive titles from 2000 to 2004. Samuel was first in 2008, second in 2011 and 2012, third in 2007 and 2009, and fourth in 2010.

Raffles Institution’s Fabian Lew capitalized on a stumble by ACJC’s Terence Cheah at the final hurdle to take the bronze medal.

Results
1st Ow Yeong Yu Xiang (Hwa Chong Institution) – 56.33 seconds
2nd Samuel Tay Chin Keat (Hwa Chong Institution) – 57.93
3rd Lew Bi Yang Fabian (Raffles Institution) – 60.28
4th Lim Wei Min Gary (Raffles Institution) – 61.83
5th Terence Cheah Jun Xian (Anglo-Chinese Junior College) – 62.14
6th Heng Jiacheng (National Junior College) – 64.99
7th Nicholas Lee Zhao An (Anglo-Chinese Junior College) – 65.05