Story by Iman Hashim/Red Sports. Photos by Rebekah Abbott and Benedict Yeo/Red Sports.

Celeste Goh (SSP #39) clinched the gold in the 400m with a time of 1:01.80. This is followed by Audrey Tan (HCI #226) who came in second place with a timing of 1:02.46. (Photo 1 © Benedict Yeo/Red Sports)

Bishan Stadium, Thursday, April 20, 2017 — Since her C Division triumph in 2013, Celeste Goh of Singapore Sports School never got to experience victory in the 400 metres again at the National Schools Track and Field Championships – finishing second for the past two years.

That all changed at the 58th edition of these championships, as she clinched the A Division girls’ 400m gold in 1 minute 1.8 seconds.

She beat out competition from Audrey Sarah Tan of Hwa Chong Insitution and Gladys Ang of Anglo-Chinese Junior College, who completed the podium in 1:02.46 and 1:03.82 respectively.

Despite that, Celeste admitted her disappointment of not lowering her personal best of 1:00.82, which won her B Division silver in 2015.

She said, “Honestly I don’t feel that great. Since I didn’t hit my PB last year, this year I told myself that I had to hit my PB. And I knew that I could do my PB, just that I was too nervous just now.”

When asked if the searing morning heat possibly affected her performance, she was quick to reject that as an excuse.

“Even though the weather wasn’t that great, it shouldn’t be affecting me that much. That’s because you can’t control the weather, you can only control yourself. And I feel that if I had controlled myself even better, by calming down, not being too nervous, I would have done better,” she said.

“I was really nervous – the moment I went off my blocks I just felt I couldn’t move. By the time I ended the race, I kind of knew it was a bad race already.”

Even though Celeste feels relative disappointment for her 400m, the same surely cannot be said about her other event, the 400m hurdles.

She broke the A Division girls’ 400m hurdles championship record in the heats last Wednesday, clocking 1:05.49. It went under the hand-timed mark of 1:05.80 set by Norishidah Mohd Ali, which had stood for 33 years.

Celeste will now look to lower the record again in the final, which will take place on April 24. However, she insists that it is not her priority.

“I don’t want to put pressure on myself, but I’ll go in telling myself to just try my best. If I break my PB and hit the record again, I guess that will just be a bonus,” she said.

A Division Girls’ 400m – Top 8
1st Celeste Goh (#39, Singapore Sports School) – 1:01.80
2nd Audrey Sarah Tan (#226, Hwa Chong Institution) – 1:02.46
3rd Gladys Ang (#204, Anglo-Chinese Junior College) – 1:03.82
4th Raageshwari D/O Arulselvam (#97, National Junior College) – 1:05.30
5th Adeen Idzni Bte Imran (#38, Singapore Sports School) – 1:05.48
6th Sarah Ting (#191, Victoria Junior College) – 1:05.65
7th Karine Leo, (#151, Dunman High School) – 1:06.18
8th Lettitia Jules Quek (#74, Catholic Junior College) – 1:08.50

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