Story by REDintern Nicole Lum and Erwin Wong/Red Sports. Photos by Lim Yong Teck, Matthew Lau and Clara Yuan/Red Sports
Hoong En Qi clocked 26.01 seconds to set a new meet record for 15-17 year olds in the women’s 50m freestyle. (Photo 1 © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)
OCBC Aquatic Centre, Sunday, March 22, 2015 — Hoong En Qi broke two meet records in the 15-17 years old catergory on the final day of competition at the Singapura Finance 46th Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships.
En Qi clocked a time of 26.01 seconds to finish the women’s 50m freestyle super final in third place, behind SEA Games bound Quah Ting Wen and Amanda Lim. While it is a personal best for her, the 15-year-old was disappointed as she missed her aim of 25.90s.
Nevertheless, her new time placed her fifth in the local all-time rankings, behind Amanda (25.38s), Ting Wen (25.43s), Mylene Ong (25.68s) and Nur Marina Chan (25.91s).
En Qi went on to break another age group meet record at the final event of the competition, the 100m butterfly. The teenager finished second in 1:02.04 after Ting Wen (1:00.14), with Nur Marina (1:03.33) following behind in third.
En Qi said, “I’m glad as I bettered my PB of 1:02.39. My back-end speed helped me a lot today. As a 50m sprinter, I managed to hold on to Ting Wen quite well in the second lap.”
Although she did not qualify for any individual events, En Qi was the third-placed swimmer during the Games qualifying window in the 50 and 100m butterfly, and was fourth in the 50 and 100m freestyle. She is also in contention for a spot in the 4x100m freestyle relay.
Chan Zi Yi was also a record-setter in the 50m freestyle, but in the 13-14 years old category. The Swimfast Aquatic Club swimmer shaved 0.19s off Christie Chue’s year-old record of 27.13s with her 26.94s swim. “My coach is happy with it, especially since I have not touched my PB of 27.30s that was made last year for a long time,” she said. On the other hand, 14-year-old Zi Yi personally thinks that she could have done better.
Despite her stellar performance for the 50m freestyle, Zi Yi will focus more on the longer distances. “My coach has advised me to concentrate more on the 100m and 200m freestyle events because there are fewer people taking part in them,” she explained. “I’ll have a better chance at doing well this way, whereas the 50m freestyle can be anybody’s game.”
Zi Yi will be one to watch at the upcoming National Inter-Schools Swimming Championships, in which she will represent Methodist Girls’ School.
In the women’s 200m breaststroke final, Kathlyn Laiu broke the record for 13-14 year olds when she came in second with a time of 2:38.68. Despite missing her PB by 0.40s, she was still satisfied with her performance.
“My form dropped in the past few months because my mind was not on training. I’m happy now that I’ve got my form back and I hope that I will continue to improve until the National Inter-Schools Swimming Championships starts,” Kathlyn commented. She is proving to be a strong contender for the 100m and 200m breaststroke events this year, having already broken both meet records at this week’s SNAG.
In the same 200m breaststroke final, Christie Chue and Cheryl Lim came in first and third with times of 2:36.28 and 2:38.97 respectively. With this swim, Christie now ranks as the second fastest in this event behind America-based Samantha Yeo. This lands Christie her third individual SEA Games spot, after qualifying in the 100m and 200m freestyle earlier in the meet. Unfortunately, her showing dropped Cheryl, who was ranked second before the race, out of contention for the SEA Games.
Christie’s swim bettered her previous PB of 2:42.23. “It was unexpected but I’m really happy that my hard work didn’t go to waste. All the morning trainings were worth it,” she added. In order to handle the three events that she has qualified for, Christie said that she will have to train harder.
In the 1500m freestyle, Rachel Marjorie Tseng smashed her year-old meet record by more than 13 seconds. Her 17:05.69 effort was enough to qualify her for the World Junior Championships and World Championships. Unfortunately, this event is not included in the SEA Games.
“This swim bettered my PB that was made at last year’s Singapore National Swimming Championships by three to four seconds. It was a surprise for me because I was not looking at the time, but more at the execution and my coaches’ instructions,” Rachel said.
“The 1500m freestyle is very much of a mental exercise. I just kept telling myself to keep going during the swim,” said Rachel, on how she manages to pull through the long race.
The 17-year-old schoolgirl owes her improvement to her training with the national squad, which she started in January. “It’s not only the swimming skills, but also the mental aspect. It has improved after all the psychology talks and visualisation,” she continued. “My preparation is going well so far and I will have to continue working with my coaches.”
Rachel prefers not to set any expectations for now, but would be content with podium finishes for her 400m and 800m freestyle events that she has qualified to swim at the SEA Games. “I’ll see how it goes but right now I want to focus on training, and improving on my pre-race routine and mental aspects,” she said.
Another record-breaker for the 1500m freestyle event is 14-year-old Genevieve Lye who finished the race in 18:11.66. She too smashed the U-14 record by just over 27 seconds. This came after she rewrote the 800m freestyle record for 13-14 year olds on March 17.
For more details of the event, go to: www.facebook.com/swimsnag
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