By Stefanus Ian/Red Sports
Tao Li won the silver in the 50m butterfly final with a time of 25.57 seconds. (Photo 1 © M. Chandran/Red Sports)
Singapore Sports School, Wednesday, November 6, 2013 — After missing out on the 100 metres butterfly final on the first day of the meet and getting an earful from her mom, Singapore’s Tao Li made amends, clocking 25.57 seconds to clinch the silver medal in the short-course 50 metres butterfly final at the 2013 FINA Swimming World Cup. Sarah Sjoestroem won the gold in 25.34s.
Teo Zhen Ren, the defending 1,500m freestyle SEA games champion, gave the local crowd something to cheer about at the start of the evening. Zhen Ren finished fourth in the 1,500m final, breaking the short-course national record with a time of 15:19.30.
Quah Zheng Wen qualified for two finals, the men’s 200m backstroke and 200m freestyle, finishing sixth and seventh respectively. His time of 1:58.22 in the 200m backstroke was a new national record, bettering Zach Ong’s mark of 1:58.73 set in November 2009.
It was altogether a much better second night for Singapore with nine swimmers in the finals, one medal and two new short-course national records. Furthermore, three national records were broken earlier in the day during the heats.
Zhen Ren may have started the ball rolling, but the loudest cheers were reserved for the second last event starring Singapore’s swim queen Tao Li. After admitting to complacency the previous day, she took an effort to be more focused last night.
“I talked to my teammates less. I just focused on myself and not talk to them at all,” said the 23-year-old.
But on top of better focus, she came prepared with a new strategy. To help increase the fluidity of her strokes, Tao Li said she didn’t even come up for air throughout the race. The strategy clearly worked as she finished within 0.14 seconds of her personal best recorded in August.
“Normally I would take one breath but this time I didn’t take one so I just went all the way, I didn’t breathe at all,” she said.
“This is my first time doing that, yeah I think it helped, I would try it again.”
The success for Zhen Ren came as a surprise for the 19-year-old given his poor performance the previous day. He was also in the midst of tough training for the South-east Asian (SEA) Games and felt that he was not in his best form.
“I wasn’t really expecting much especially after yesterday morning. My coach just told me to do my best time. He trusts that I have done the mileage in training,” said the full-time national serviceman.
This was Zhen Ren’s first major international meet this year and he was clearly pleased with his performance.
“If you convert this into a long course time, it is very near my personal best time and I haven’t touched that personal best time in over a year,” he said.
“So I am really, really quite happy.”
The morning heats proved to be a good hunting ground for the local swimmers with three national records being rewritten.
Earlier in the day, Zheng Wen qualified for the 200m freestyle final when he broke Danny Yeo’s year-old record of 1 minute 47.64 seconds with his 1:46.08. The 17-year-old now has broken four national records in two days, but he felt that he still had more to give.
“I think I did pretty well for this meet, if I compare back to my first time,” said Zheng Wen. “I didn’t really taper for this meet so I wouldn’t really say that I am at my peak right now.”
Roanne Ho also lowered the national record for the women’s 50m breaststroke despite not qualifying for the final. The 21-year-old clocked in at 32.39 to break the previous short-course record of 32.63 set by Samantha Yeo in December 2012.
Similarly, Russell Ong and Darren Lim both broke the national record for the men’s 50m freestyle in the morning. Russell clocked 22.68 to break the previous national short-course record of 22.72 set by Arren Quek in March 2012. Darren then lowered it further in the next heat with his 22.26.
Tan Jing-E competed in two finals, the women’s 200m butterfly and the 400m individual medley (IM), where she finished sixth and seventh respectively.
The other swimmers that took to the pool last night were Rachel Marjorie Tseng, Quah Jing Wen, Benedict Boon and Pang Sheng Jun.
The next leg of the Swimming World Cup will be in Tokyo, Japan, on November 9 and 10.
Day 2 Results (Singaporeans only)
Men 1,500m Freestyle
4th Teo Zhen Ren – 15:19.30 (National Record)
6th Pang Sheng Jun – 15:39.82
10th Benedict Boon – 15:53.50
Men 200m Backstroke
6th Quah Zheng Wen – 1:58.22 (National Record)
Men 200m Freestyle
7th Quah Zheng Wen – 1:46.37
Women 400m Individual Medley
7th Tan Jing-E – 4:55.97
9th Quah Jing Wen – 4:59.19
Women 200m Butterfly
6th Tan Jing-E – 2:16.44
8th Marie Elysia Chong – 2:22.56
Women 400m Freestyle
8th Rachel Marjorie Tseng – 4:16.16
Hi, my event was 50m Breaststroke (not Freestyle). And 32.44 is my long course record, not short course. The short course record was Samantha Yeo’s 32.63 set in December 2012.
As for Darren Lim, 22.73 is also his best long course timing, not short course. The previous national record is held by Arren Quek’s 22.72 set in March 2012.
Yup.
Thanks for pointing out the mistakes, Roanne. We’ll fix it!
Hi Roanne, sorry for the mix up and thank you very much for the clarification! 🙂
Teo Zhen Ren , Well done and we proud of you.Up and again.
All the best for the coming December!
Love ,
Aunty Judy