Story by REDintern Nicole Lum and Erwin Wong/Red Sports. Photos by Lim Yong Teck, Matthew Lau, Jerald Ang and Clara Yuan/Red Sports
14-year-old Christie Chue clocked a time of 2:03.80 to secure the second nomination spot for the women’s 200m freestyle event at the upcoming 28th SEA Games. This will be her Games debut. “I am nervous and also excited for it,” said Christie. (Photo 1 © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)
OCBC Aquatic Centre, Friday, March 20, 2015 — When she participated at last year’s Southeast Asian (SEA) Championships, 14-year-old Christie Chue had a feel of what competing alongside the region’s best swimmers was like, in a meet that bridged the two-year gap between each edition of the SEA Games.
This time round, she will swim at the SEA Games itself.
Christie qualified for her first individual event of her first major Games when she finished second in the women’s 200m freestyle super final at the Singapura Finance 46th Singapore National Age Group Championships.
The CHIJ Katong Convent swimmer set a new meet record for 15-17 year olds with her time of 2 minutes 3.80 seconds, shaving more than two seconds off Nur Marina Chan’s two-year-old record of 2:05.67. It also smashed her personal best of 2:06.14, set three months ago at the Singapore National Swimming Championships.
Quah Ting Wen won the race in a time of 2:01.42, which broke her age group meet record of 2:02.17 set in the morning heats. The time clocked in the final made her the fastest swimmer in this event during the SEA Games qualifying window, with Christie as the second fastest. The top two will be nominated by the Singapore Swimming Association for the Games.
“I’m happy with my swim as it took off three seconds off my previous personal best (PB), even though I didn’t expect it,” said Christie.
“My goal is to keep training hard, focus during training and try to improve more until the SEA Games starts. What has aided me to improve is the help I’ve received from my teachers, the support from my parents and the training I get from my coach, Coach Zhang,” added Christie, who turns 15 on July 3.
The pre-race SEA Games ranking list had Amanda Lim as the second fastest swimmer for the 200m freestyle by virtue of her 2:03.89 swim at last September’s Asian Games. The 22-year-old qualified for the super final at this SNAG meet, but withdrew from the final, which meant that she had lost the opportunity to clock a better time. That opened the door for other swimmers to dislodge Amanda from SEA Games contention, and Christie made the most of it.
“I withdrew because I want to concentrate on the 50m and 100m (freestyle events),” said Amanda, who has won three straight 50m freestyle SEA Games titles. “I’m happy that Christie swam a better time. It’s time for younger swimmers to step up.”
Besides having places in the individual 200m freestyle, Ting Wen and Christie will also be swimming in the 4x200m freestyle relay at the SEA Games. The remaining two slots will be decided between Amanda (2:03.89), Rachel Tseng (2:04.09), Nur Marina (2:04.39) and Samantha Yeo (2:06.76).
Tao Li smashed the meet record for the women’s 100m backstroke when she swam a 1:03.86 in the super final. Her timing was more than three seconds faster than Teo Jing Wen’s year-old record of 1:07.01.
When asked how she felt about her swim, Tao Li said, “I am happy with today. There will obviously be improvement in the next few months to come especially when I have to taper for the SEA Games. Then, I hope I will be able to achieve what I want.”
The 25-year-old expressed her confidence in regaining her champion’s crown in the 100m butterfly, a title she has held for the last four editions of the biennial Games. However, she mentioned 18-year-old Vietnamese swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien, who came in third at last year’s Asian Games for the 200m backstroke, as one to watch. “She’s coming up and is pretty fast,” she added. “It won’t be an easy meet.”
Hannah Quek will add the 100m backstroke to the 200 backstroke which she has already qualified for. She finished second behind Tao Li, and has earned a nomination for the SEA Games based on her PB of 1:05.31 clocked at February’s National Time Trials.
In the women’s 200m butterfly super final, Quah Jing Wen and Nicholle Toh finished first and second in respective times of 2:22.13 and 2:23.68, but they failed to break into the top two best times in the SEA Games qualifying window. They belong to Ting Wen and Tan Jing-E, who swam 2:14.26 and 2:21.31 respectively at the Asian Games in September 2014.
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