B Div 800m (Girls): Addeen Idzni Imran of Singapore Sports School wins in 2:29.50

Story by Jiexin Neo/Red Sports. Photos by Clara Yuan/Red Sports

Addeen Idzni Imran (#89) of Singapore Sports School crossed the line 0.34 seconds ahead of schoolmate Celeste Goh (#91) to clinch first place in a new personal best of 2:29.50. (Photo 1 © Clara Yuan/Red Sports)

Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Wednesday, April 16, 2014 — Addeen Idzni Imran of Singapore Sports School ran a time of 2 minutes 29.50 seconds to win the girls’ B Division 800m final at the 55th National Schools Track and Field Championships.

SSP’s Celeste Goh crossed the line 0.34 seconds after Addeen to clinch second, while schoolmate Grace Ng was third in 2:30.96 to complete another 1-2-3 sweep for SSP.

Earlier in the afternoon, SSP placed all three runners in the top three of the girls’ B Division 100m. These two sweeps enabled them to enter the final two events of the day, the 4x100m and 4x400m relays, with an unassailable lead over Nanyang Girls’ High School in the girls’ B Division team title race.

In the 800m final, Natalie Soh of Paya Lebar Methodist Girls’, the national schools cross country individual champion, and Ng Jia Yi of Changkat Changi led the field after 200m. Jia Yi, whose personal best of 2:28.09 placed her as arguably the pre-race favourite, broke through to take the lead for the rest of the first lap and much of the second after an early fall within the first 100m.

With 100 metres remaining in the race, the three Sports School runners, who were trailing just behind Jia Yi, overtook her to relegate the 400m hurdles winner to fourth place.

Addeen finished just a step ahead of Celeste to grab the gold medal.

“I just kept a quick pace during the first round. In the second round, I slowly increased my speed and with 200 metres remaining, I just pushed. I’d like to thank my friends and my family and my coach,” said Addeen, who is in her first year in the B Division and had placed second in the 1500m at this meet.

Celeste, who also clinched a silver in last year’s C Division 800m race, ran below 2:30 for the first time to clock a personal best, along with Addeen.

B Div 800m (Girls) Results
1st Addeen Idzni Imran (Singapore Sports School, #89) — 02:29.50
2nd Celeste Goh Jia Rui (Singapore Sports School, #91) — 02:29.84
3rd Grace Ng En Hui (Singapore Sports School, #94) — 02:30.96
4th Ng Jia Yi (Changkat Changi Secondary, #277) — 02:31.12
5th Soh Hann, Natalie (Paya Lebar Methodist Girls’, #309) — 02:35.43
6th Mock Tian Qi, Annika (CHIJ (Toa Payoh), #131) — 02:35.92
7th Alexandra Louise Wee Rei-Min (CHIJ (Toa Payoh, #115) — 02:36.19
8th Lim Peak Kee (CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’, #36) — 02:39.08
9th Sabrina Seah Wen Xuan (Nanyang Girls’ High, #382) — 02:39.25
10th Lim Kai Yuan (CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’, #35) — 02:43.70
11th Goh Shao Ping Charmaine (Woodlands Secondary, #106) — 02:44.30
12th Talisa Wilson (SJI (International), #253) — 02:44.95
13th Valerie Chuang Zhen Jin (Raffles Girls’ School, #251) —02:45.09
14th Hazel Juliana Rodrigues (CHIJ St Theresa’s, #142) — 02:45.35
15th Tan Yi Jin, Claire (Nanyang Girls’ High, #387) — 02:47.53
16th Teoh Gui Mei Kitty (CHIJ (Toa Payoh), #133) — 02:49.45