Story by REDintern Carissa Tan and Erwin Wong/Red Sports. Photos by Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports, Jerald Ang/Red Sports and Matthew Lau/Red Sports.
Quah Zheng Wen in action during the men’s 200m butterfly final which he won in a time of 2:00.35. Zheng Wen’s 1:59.66 at February’s time trials secured him a nomination for this event at the 28th SEA Games, alongside teammate Joseph Schooling. (Photo 1 © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)
OCBC Aquatic Centre, Thursday, March 19, 2015 — Quah Zheng Wen added another two events to his growing schedule for the upcoming Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in June, when he finished first in the men’s 200m backstroke and 200m butterfly finals at the Singapura Finance 46th Singapore National Age Group (SNAG) Swimming Championships.
The 18-year-old clocked a time of 2 minutes 1.75 seconds in the 200m backstroke super final, which was just 0.25 seconds slower than his morning heats swim. It was a new meet record for the 18 years old and over, and more importantly for Zheng Wen, an encouraging sign of consistency. These two swims are his fastest since recording his personal best and national open record of 2:01.18 at the 2012 SNAG meet.
“Now I know I can consistently go at 2:01 and I think that is good enough to win the SEA Games gold for us. That really boosts my confidence, but what really matters to me is my personal best,” said Zheng Wen.
“So even though I know that this is a pretty good time for me and (because) I haven’t really been able to hit these times, it’s a confidence booster for me but I would have liked to go faster,” added the Swimfast Aquatic Club representative.
Malcolm Low finished second in 2:05.37, and by virtue of his 2:05.30 PB clocked at the Singapore National Swimming Championships in December 2014, the 18-year-old will be nominated by the Singapore Swimming Association for this event at the SEA Games, alongside Zheng Wen.
Francis Fong finished fourth and out of SEA Games contention, but the silver lining is that he has continued to drop times in his pet backstroke events. His 200m backstroke time of 2:08.32 was a PB by nearly two and a half seconds, while his 100m backstroke saw a significant improvement of 0.90s to 57.45s.
“I came in nervous because I wasn’t really feeling up to what I am. I did not feel good because my muscles were aching from the morning swim and from the 100 metres backstroke before that,” said Francis, when asked about his swim in the 200m backstroke final.
When asked to compare the PBs from the two events, he replied: “Both were good swims but I found the 200 back more mentally challenging because it really depends on your determination, as it is a very long distance. So, I am definitely proud of my times and I would like to thank my coaches, Sergio (Lopez) and Gary (Tan), for their efforts.”
In the men’s 200m butterfly super final, Zheng Wen clocked a time of 2:00.35 to take first place. It improved on his morning heats swim of 2:01.79, which broke the meet record for 18 years and over which stood at 2:03.36.
His time of 1:59.66 swam at February’s National Time Trials gives him the second fastest time in the SEA Games qualifying window. National record holder Joseph Schooling tops the rankings with his 1:57.54 at the Asian Games in September 2014. Both swimmers will be nominated for this event at the SEA Games by the SSA.
Zheng Wen now has a total of five individual events on his plate, having already qualified in the 100m and 200m freestyle and 100m backstroke earlier in the meet. He also has confirmed spots in the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays, and will likely swim the backstroke leg of the 4x100m medley relay.
He will swim in five more events at this SNAG meet. They are the 50m and 100m butterfly, 50m backstroke, 200m and 400m individual medley.
Zheng Wen took on five individual and two relay events at the previous SEA Games in 2013, and garnered three golds, two silvers and one bronze medal. The 50m backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke were not contested at the 2013 Games.
The men’s 50m freestyle super final saw Clement Lim finish first in 23.54s, followed by Russell Ong in 23.67s, and Teong Tzen Wei who hit sub-24s for the first time with his 23.96s swim.
Russell, who has three silver medals and a bronze in this event at the last four SEA Games, will not have the opportunity for another shot at gold. The fastest two swimmers during the qualifying window are Joseph Schooling (23.09s) and Clement (23.36s).
For more details of the event, go to: www.facebook.com/swimsnag
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