Story by Dylan Chua and Chan Hua Zheng/Red Sports. Photos by Chua Kai Yun and Soh Jun Wei/Red Sports
Quah Ting Wen starting off strong during her 50m freestyle event. She finished first in the open category with a timing of 25.54 seconds, rewriting her own meet record set in the morning by 0.01s, and also improving on her current ‘B’ qualifying timing for the Rio Olympics. (Photo 1 © Chua Kai Yun/Red Sports)
OCBC Aquatic Centre, Saturday, March 19, 2016 — Having gone under the Olympic ‘B’ qualification timings for five events, national swimmer Quah Ting Wen was aiming to finally go under the ‘A’ marks which would guarantee a spot in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Unfortunately, it was not to be.
On the fourth day of the Singapura Finance 47th Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships, Ting Wen started the evening session off with a record-breaking performance in the 50 metres freestyle, clocking 25.54 seconds to win the ‘A’ final for 15 years old and over. The time also bettered her own meet mark set in the morning heats by 0.01 seconds.
Her timing was also a slight improvement over the 25.60s that she recorded at the same venue in the 2015 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, and was also her fastest in a textile swimsuit. It was, however, still 0.26s off the Olympic ‘A’ qualification timing of 25.28s.
Freestyle specialist Amanda Lim, a four-time SEA Games Gold medalist for Singapore in the 50m freestyle, finished second in a time of 25.66s. Amanda had defeated Ting Wen in the same event by a mere 0.01 seconds at the the 2015 SEA Games, and that had given her an Olympic ‘B’ qualifying mark.
Nur Marina Chan, 18, also met the Olympic ‘B’ mark of 26.17s in the 50m freestyle when she swam that exact time to finish fourth.
The selection criteria published by the Singapore Swimming Association states that if no swimmer achieves an ‘A’ timing in a particular event, then the fastest swimmer with a ‘B’ time will be selected, provided he or she is invited by FINA, the international governing body for swimming.
The Singapore National Olympic Council will be informed of all invited swimmers with ‘B’ times by July 3.
Jing Wen, Ting Wen’s younger sister, broke her second 15-17 years old age group meet record of the championships when she touched home in the 200m individual medley ‘A’ final in 2 minutes 19.16 seconds. That erased Samantha Yeo’s record of 2:19.57 which had stood for two years.
With regards to her performance, Jing Wen said, “I was actually expecting a little bit more from myself after making the Olympic ‘B’ cut for the 200m IM during the World Junior Championships. I put quite a bit of stress on myself as I expected to be faster and improve my timing and chances of making the Olympic team. So when I touched at 2:19 which was off my PB of 2:18, I was pretty upset about it.”
“Although it wasn’t my best performance, I can say I already did my best,” she added.
Ting Wen then rounded the day off with her second 100m butterfly personal best in as many attempts. Her pre-meet PB stood at 59.92s, but she bettered it in the morning heats with a 59.48s swim, and again in the evening final when she dropped another 0.1 seconds.
The latter swim broke Tao Li’s 18 years old and over meet record of 59.47s. Ting Wen had already met the Olympic ‘B’ qualification timing of 1:00.80 twice by recording times of 1:00.30 at the 2015 SEA Games and 2015 FINA World Championships. Her day’s efforts were a stark improvement on them, but were ultimately still short of the ‘A’ mark of 58.74s.
On her performances in the 50m freestyle and 100m butterfly events, Ting Wen said, “I’m satisfied, but with this year being the Olympic year, I was also trying to make the team and the Olympic ‘A’ cut for the 50m freestyle. For the 100m butterfly, I was a little bit tired at the end and I didn’t bring it home as well as I wanted to.”
Nicholle Toh, 15, also set a new meet record in the 100m butterfly for 15-17 year olds, clocking 1:01.44 to take down Hoong En Qi’s year-old record which previously stood at 1:02.04.
The Singapura Finance 47th Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships enters its final day of competition on Sunday, March 20 at 9.30am.
Women’s results – Day 4 (Evening session)
Women 13-14 years old 50m freestyle
1st Miyu Namba (JPN) – 26.60s
2nd Georgina Winters – 27.40s
3rd Ashley Jade Khoo – 27.78s
Women 15-17 years old 50m freestyle
1st Anna Pang – 26.06s
2nd Hoong En Qi – 26.33s
3rd Lin Pei Wun (TPE) – 26.39s
Women 18 years old & above 50m freestyle
1st Quah Ting Wen – 25.54s (meet record)
2nd Amanda Lim – 25.66s
3rd Chan Shi Min Nur Marina – 26.17s
Women 13-14 years old 200m Individual Medley
1st Mei Ishihara (JPN) – 2:21.01
2nd Maho Murakami (JPN) – 2:25.38
3rd Sydney Chun – 2:26.52
4th Charity Lien – 2:26.63
Women 15-17 years old 200m Individual Medley
1st Quah Jing Wen – 2:19.16 (meet record)
2nd Mao Ichinohe (JPN) – 2:19.75
3rd Akemi Shinohara (JPN) – 2:20.97
Women 18 years old & above 200m Individual Medley
1st Eing Pawapotako (THA) – 2:17.41
2nd An Hsu (TPE) – 2:18.12
3rd Chin Khar Yi – 2:31.84
Women 13-14 years old 200m breaststroke
1st Nana Akao (JPN) – 2:35.80
2nd Charity Lien – 2:39.61
3rd Madeline Lye – 2:49.20
Women 15-17 years old 200m breaststroke
1st Rina Inabi (JPN) – 2:37.32
2nd Laiu Yilin Kathlyn – 2:38.07
3rd Chue Mun Ee Christie May – 2:42.26
Women 18 years old & above 200m breaststroke
1st Micah Lawrence – 2:28.42
2nd Liao Man Wen (TPE) – 2.31.23
3rd Eing Pawapotako (THA) – 2:34.98
5th Amanda Tam – 2:46.95
Women 13-14 years old 100m butterfly
1st Sydney Chun – 1:04.09
2nd Mei Ishihara (JPN) – 1:04.16
3rd Maho Murakami (JPN) – 1:06.30
4th Charity Lien – 1:07.06
Women 15-17 years old 100m butterfly
1st Mizuki Kurashina (JPN) – 1:01.32
2nd Nicholle Toh – 1:01.44 (meet record)
3rd Aoi Arakawa (JPN) – 1:01.62
Women 18 years old & above 100m butterfly
1st Quah Ting Wen – 59.38s (meet record)
2nd Chan Shi Min Nur Marina – 1:02.51
3rd Hannah E Dato – 1:03.05
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