Story and photos by Iman Hashim/Red Sports
A two-and-a-half hours delay forced by lightning alert failed to derail Tan Tse Teng of Hwa Chong Institution as she leapt 11.25 metres on her final attempt to snatch the A Division girls’ triple jump gold. (Photo 1 © Iman Hashim/Red Sports)
Choa Chua Kang Stadium, Monday, March 25, 2019 — It was probably the longest, most nerve-wracking triple jump final that Tan Tse Teng has been a part of.
The Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) athlete had taken the lead in the A Division girls’ triple jump event with her third attempt of 11.01 metres, before a lightning alert forced a two-and-a-half hours delay at the Choa Chua Kang Stadium.
“In a way it did (affect my performance), considering we had cooled down, and then when the rain stopped we went to warm up again,” said the first-year junior college student. “But it continued raining after that, so it was a warm up, cool down, warm up, cool down. It affected us a little, but in the end it’s just whether we were willing to do it or not.”
Then, the competition reached its climax — right before her final jump, Tse Teng saw her lead get snatched away when Victoria Junior College’s Hannah Loo recorded a personal best 11.05m to leapfrog her to the pole position.
It was do-or-die for Tse Teng on her last attempt.
“For me, I didn’t want to let my teammates, coaches and parents down,” recounted Tse Teng on her thoughts then. “So I did my best to focus on what I needed to work on, and I just went and did my best.”
And she duly delivered, leaping a final distance of 11.25m to snatch the gold. It fell short of her wind-aided and wind-legal personal bests of 11.53m and 11.36m respectively — both recorded a week ago at the 3rd Asian Youth Championships in Hong Kong — but it did not matter at that point.
Yet, according to Tse Teng, her winning jump felt like a “very strange jump”.
“I didn’t expect that I would have jumped that distance, because when I looked back and saw (my jump distance), I didn’t expect it would be a 11.2. I thought it would still be a low (11), like 11 zero something,” she explained.
“I wasn’t sure what to think, but when the officials said it was 11.2, I was really happy.”
Tse Teng’s victory means she earned herself her maiden gold medal at the annual schools meet. In last year’s B Division final in the same event, the former CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School athlete had missed out on gold by a whisker. With the top three recording the same best distance of 10.74m, their respective second-furthest jumps saw Tse Teng place second behind Cedar Girls’ Mabel Leow.
While disappointed she did not meet her personal best, Tse Teng said she would still consider it a “good day” as her teammates did very well too.
Joanne Erica Soh and Kelly Chan jumped respective distances of 10.81m and 10.79m to ensure a 1-3-4 finish for Hwa Chong.
A Division Girls’ Triple Jump Final Results
1st Tan Tse Teng (#521, Hwa Chong Institution) — 11.25 metres
2nd Hannah Loo Yuet Ying (#456, Victoria Junior College) — 11.05
3rd Joanne Erica Soh Yuan (#509, Hwa Chong Institution) — 10.81
4th Kelly Chan Xin Hui (#513, Hwa Chong Institution) — 10.79
5th Yasmeen Marie Lutfi (#328, Singapore Sports School) — 10.71
6th Cham Jay Yin (#304, Eunoia Junior College) — 10.61
7th Yin Yichen (#471, Victoria Junior College) — 10.59
8th Natalie Ngoh Yen Qi (#383, National Junior College) — 10.16
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