Story by Dylan Chua and Chan Hua Zheng/Red Sports. Photos by Chua Kai Yun and Soh Jun Wei/Red Sports
Quah Jing Wen swimming in the butterfly leg during her 15 years old and over ‘A’ 400 IM finals at the 47th Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships. She finished first in her 15-17 years old age group with a timing of 4:59.59, clocking a new meet record. Jing Wen won the Most Valuable Swimmer award for 15-17 year olds. (Photo 1 © Soh Jun Wei/Red Sports)
OCBC Aquatic Centre, Sunday, March 20, 2016 — Gan Ching Hwee, 13, and Quah Jing Wen, 16, were named Most Valuable Swimmers for the 13-14 years old and 15-17 years old age groups respectively while two new female national records book-ended the final day of the Singapura Finance 47th Singapore National Age Group (SNAG) Swimming Championships.
Ching Hwee won four gold medals in the 100, 200, 400 and 800m freestyle, while Jing Wen clinched three golds and one silver at the meet.
National swimmer Quah Ting Wen, 23, got the evening session off with a 55.52-second swim to win the 100m freestyle ‘A’ final for 15 years old and over, rewriting her own national open record in the process. The old mark of 55.57s was set almost seven years ago on July 6, 2009, at the inaugural Asian Youth Games (AYG) which was also held in Singapore.
Set in an era when non-textile swimsuits were not banned till the start of 2010, Ting Wen’s long-standing record only came under threat with Mylene Ong’s 55.70s swim in March 2012.
Her new open mark of 55.52s also went under the 56.34s Olympic ‘B’ qualification timing, which she had already met with a 55.93s swim at the 2015 SEA Games held at the same venue.
When asked about her performance for the 100m freestyle, Ting Wen said, “I’m glad. It’s nice to know that I can consistently go under 56 seconds. I’m proud of what I’ve done in this meet. I raced hard and what is important is that I’ve managed to transition what I’ve practiced in the past six months into the race.”
Ting Wen set personal bests in the 100m freestyle, 50m and 100m butterfly, and textile PBs in the 50m and 200m freestyle at this meet.
Ting Wen’s 15-year-old sister, Jing Wen, swam the 400m individual medley ‘A’ final for 15 years and above in 4 minutes 59.59 seconds. Her timing secured automatic qualification to August’s Junior Pan Pacific meet, and was also good enough to rewrite her year-old 15-17 years old age group meet record which previously stood at 5:03.45. Her swim was, however, just 0.07s off her personal best time which she registered last June en route to winning a SEA Games bronze.
When quizzed about her younger sister’s record-setting performance in the 400m IM, Ting Wen commented, “Right before this meet she actually came down with a fever and she’s also participating in some of the tougher events. She’s a tough kid and she puts up a good fight and I’m proud of her.”
Hannah Quek, 16, set her third meet record in the morning heats, touching home in 1:06.25 to erase Meagan Lim’s 100m backstroke mark of 1:06.29 set in 2013. Hannah later improved it to 1:05.73 in the evening session.
Earlier in the morning, Ching Hwee set the 1500m freestyle meet record with a 17:37.17 swim in the final. Her time broke Genevieve Lye’s year-old record of 18:11.66.
In the final event of the day, the women’s 4x100m freestyle national U-17 record was rewritten by Team Singapore’s representatives comprising of Jing Wen, Christie, Natasha Ong and Hoong En Qi. Their timing of 3:50.25 broke the previous mark of 3:54.33 set by the quartet of Christie, Chan Zi Yi, Cherlyn Yeoh and En Qi on December 5, 2015, at the 39th South-east Asia Age Group Championships in Danang, Vietnam.
Jing Wen led the team off with a blistering split of 57.42s. It was a massive PB, and also made her the third quickest local swimmer in this event this year.
In total, the females set 20 meet records – which included five and four for Ting Wen and Ching Hwee respectively – and two national records at this year’s edition of the National Age Group meet. Lionel Khoo, Darren Lim and Nur Marina Chan also joined the list of locals to meet the Olympic ‘B’ qualification times, bringing the total number of Singaporeans who have done so to 12. Quah Zheng Wen and Joseph Schooling remained the only two Singaporeans to have met the ‘A’ cut times which secure automatic spots at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
With the conclusion of the fifth day of competition for the seniors at SNAG Swimming Championships, the meet has officially come to an end. Singapura Finance had announced before the start of the meet cash awards of $200 and $500 respectively for setting meet records and national records. A total of $30,700 worth of cash rewards were handed out to the Singapore Swimming Association (SSA). The cash rewards will be redistributed to the athletes to help defray training costs.
Women results – Day 5 (Morning session)
Women 13-14 years old 1500m freestyle
1st Gan Ching Hwee – 17:37.17 (meet record)
2nd Ervina Lim – 18:04.81
3rd Paloma Canos Cervana – 18:10.00
Women 15-17 years old 1500m freestyle
1st Michika Kikuchi (JPN) – 16:59.16
2nd Tan Lee Shuen – 18:33.73
3rd Celia Gaier – 18:49.87
Women 18 years old & above 1500m freestyle
1st Chloe Wang – 17:20.22
2nd Tseng Chieh Chuan (TPE) – 17:35.64
3rd Kaitlyn Ritchey – 18:12.76
Women results – Day 5 (Evening session)
Women 13-14 years old 100m freestyle
1st Miyu Mamba (JPN) – 57.87s
2nd Gan Ching Hwee – 59.24s
3rd Maho Murakami (JPN) – 1:00.74
Women 15-17 years old 100m freestyle
1st Natasha Ong – 57.48s
2nd Kinuko Mochizuki (JPN) – 57.49s
3rd Anna Pang – 57.53s
Women 18 years old & above 100m freestyle
1st Quah Ting Wen – 55.52s (National & meet record)
2nd Nattanan Jungkrajang (THA) – 55.95s
3rd Amanda Lim – 57.06s
Women 13-14 years old 400m Individual Medley
1st Mei Ishihara (JPN) – 4:59.12
2nd Sydney Chun – 5:09.51
3rd Charity Lien – 5:15.81
Women 15-17 years old 400m Individual Medley
1st Quah Jing Wen – 4:59.59 (Meet record)
2nd Mizuki Azuma – 4:59.67
3rd Angelic Leong – 5:12.59
Women 18 years old & above 400m Individual Medley
1st Eing Pawapotako (THA) – 4:55.62
2nd An Hsu (TPE) – 4:55.87
3rd Chin Khar Yi – 5:19.83
Women 13-14 years old 100m backstroke
1st Chelsea Khoo – 1:08.74
2nd Mikella Schuettler – 1:08.84
3rd Elizabeth Khoo – 1:09.15
Women 15-17 years old 100m backstroke
1st Maho Sekiguchi (JPN) – 1:03.42
2nd Tamami Katagiri (JPN) – 1:03.57
3rd Hannah Quek – 1:05.73 (meet record)
Women 18 years old & above 100m backstroke
1st An Hsu (TPE) – 1:03.53
2nd Sonnele Ozturk (GER) – 1:04.32
3rd Chantel Liew – 1:05.59
Women 13 years old & above 400m freestyle relay
1st Singapore – 3:50.25 (National record)
[Quah Jing Wen 57.42; Christie Chue 57.65; Natasha Ong 58.13; Hoong En Qi 57.05]
2nd Indonesia Swimming Federation – 4:00.50
3rd Uwcsea-East – 4:08.08
More photos next page
Leave A Comment