Story by Iman Hashim/Red Sports. Photos by Les Tan and Chua Kai Yun/Red Sports
Marcell Tan (#132, SSP) takes home gold in the B Boys 110m Hurdles event with a timing of 14.08 seconds. He is the fourth consecutive repeat winner in this event, following Sean Toh (2009-2010), Ang Ding Hui (2011-2012) and Jay Choo (2013-2014). (Photo 1 © Chua Kai Yun/Red Sports)
Bishan Stadium, Tuesday, April 19, 2016 — Marcell Tan of Singapore Sports School (SSP) retained his B Division Boys’ 110 metres hurdles gold at the 57th National Schools Track and Field Championships, clocking a blistering 14.08 seconds in the final.
He pipped Joshua Chua (14.11s) of Raffles Institution to the finish line by a mere 0.03 seconds. Marcell’s SSP teammate Chong Wei Guan finished third in 14.41s. Marcell and Joshua clocked personal bests, while Wei Guan’s PB came in the heats (14.34s).
In last year’s championships, Marcell had won the event in 14.82s, while Joshua had finished eighth due to an injury sustained during the race. Joshua was therefore looking for redemption this year, but ultimately fell short.
Joshua burst out of the blocks first, and was quicker than Marcell to the first hurdle. However, by the fourth hurdle, both athletes were neck and neck. They then dipped together at the finish line but Marcell emerged victorious by the narrowest of margins.
Marcell’s 14.08s timing went under his previous personal best of 14.28s set in the heats. He had run a 14.16s at the Singapore Athletics Series 2 in February this year, but the wind speed was 2.5 metres per second, which is above the allowable limit for record-setting and keeping purposes.
Describing his thoughts on his victory, the SSP Secondary Five student said, “I feel good, because I have been training hard for this. And not forgetting my training partner, Wei Guan – I couldn’t have done it without him. I’ve trained with him all the time. Because of him, we both did well and managed to get PBs, and we made our coach proud as well.”
Marcell’s winning time was just 0.1 seconds off the championship record (13.98s), set by Sean Toh, then of Victoria School, in 2010. When asked if he was aiming to break it prior to the final, Marcell added, “I was hoping to, actually. But it’s okay because at least I got a PB.”
The fierce competition between Marcell and Joshua is not just limited to the 110m hurdles. Both athletes will also go head-to-head in the 100m event, and in the 4x100m relay where they will be the anchor runners for their respective schools.
On his friendly rivalry with Joshua, Marcell remarked, “Outside of the track, we are really good friends, we are very playful with each other. On the track, we are rivals, but we still respect each other. Like we won’t play a fool and disturb each other before a race.”
Meanwhile, silver-medallist Joshua could not hide his disappointment, but was still pleased with his new personal best timing. “I mean, it wasn’t the result that I was expecting. But I’m still happy with it. My injury has been an issue for me from last year until now. Because of that I have missed a lot of trainings and competitions, but I still managed to get a PB,” he said.
Joshua’s previous personal best was 14.37s, clocked in the heats of last year’s schools championships.
Returning the pleasantries, Joshua also acknowledged his healthy rivalry with Marcell, saying, “It’s not just Marcell, it’s basically all the hurdlers, we’re all very close. We really pushed each other. I’m just glad that there’s such a talented pool of hurdlers, such that we can really fight hard during races.”
For now, both Marcell and Joshua will look to clock fast timings in the 100m semi-finals, which will take place on Thursday, April 21.
As for Marcell, he will then fly off to Thailand to compete in the 11th South-east Asian (SEA) Youth Athletics Championships, held at Thammasat University over the April 23 to 24 weekend.
Finally, it will then boil down to the 100m final on Friday, April 29 at the Singapore National Stadium where Marcell and Joshua will lock horns again, barring any injury or disqualification for any of them in the semi-finals.
On his chances of getting the better of Marcell in the 100m, Joshua said, “It’s not going to be easy. But I’ll try my best and I believe I can do it.”
B Division Boys’ 110m Hurdles – Top 8
1st Marcell Tan Yann Guang (#132, Singapore Sports School) — 14.08 seconds
2nd Joshua Chua Hanwei (#273, Raffles Institution) — 14.11
3rd Chong Wei Guan (#123, Singapore Sports School) — 14.41
4th Isaac Toh Beam (#299, Raffles Institution) — 14.96
5th Loo Guan Lin (#552, Hwa Chong Institution) — 15.66
6th Jerome Hoo Jun Jie (#472, Victoria School) — 15.74
7th Kannan Asvind (#476, Victoria School) — 16.29
8th Gerard Emmanuel Loh Kai-Jyn (#541, Hwa Chong Institution) — 16.53
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