Story by Ryan Lim/Red Sports. Photos by Les Tan and Chua Kai Yun/Red Sports.

b div 400m hurdles

Shawn Jong of Sports School on his way to gold in 56.98s. Muhammad Hazim (#138, SSP) was third in 58.46s. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)

Bishan Stadium, Monday, April 25, 2016 — Shawn Jong of Singapore Sports School (SSP) secured a comfortable win by clocking 56.98 seconds in the B Division Boys 400m Hurdles at the 57th National Schools Track and Field Championships.

This was a new personal best for Shawn, breaking his previous best timing of 57.05s, clocked at the 42nd Singapore U18 & U20 Athletics Championships a month ago.

SSP dominated the final with three out of seven competitors, with two making the podium.

Isaac Toh of Raffles Institution (RI) finished second in 58.01s while Muhammad Hazim of SSP was third in 58.46s.

Shawn did not take part in the hurdles event last year. Instead, he ran the B Division 400m, and came in seventh.

In 2014, he clinched the silver medal in the C Division 400m Hurdles, finishing behind Isaac.

At the 150m mark, Shawn began to break away from his competitors, taking the lead. He slowed a little as he approached the finishing line, with Isaac closing the gap. However, Isaac’s final dash was too late as Shawn crossed the finishing line ahead.

Shawn commented after the race, “The race was very exciting, I had good competitors out there pushing hard with me. I was very proud of myself for that run. I have worked hard to come so far to get this medal. The first 100m was fast, I tried to follow my competitors and slowly got my pace and overtook them. It felt great. (In the final 100m), the lactic shot up and I just tried to give my best. I pushed and pushed until the finishing line.”

On future goals, he added, “I want to continue track and continue to pursue my sport until I get into the National Youth Team or even Singapore National team.”

Shawn’s next events are the 4x100m and 4x400m relays on Friday, April 29, at the National Stadium.

B Div 400m Hurdles (Boys) Results
1st Shawn Jong Tze Chean (#142, SSP) — 00:56.98
2nd Toh Beam, Isaac (#299, RI) — 00:58.01
3rd Muhammad Hazim B Ismail (#138, SSP) — 00:58.46
4th Kannan Asvind (#476, VS) — 00:59.96
5th Muhammad Rayyaan Mohamad R P (#139, SSP) — 01:00.54
6th Jonathan Audie Widjaja (#321, SJI) — 01:02.23
7th Gerard Emmanuel Loh Kai-Jyn (#541, HCI) — 01:02.31

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