By Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports

55th National Inter-School Track & Field Championships C Division 100m Hurdles Boys

RI’s Joshua Chua (#231) in the lead during the C Division 100m hurdles final. Joshua finished in 13.26 seconds to bag gold and set a new meet and national under-15 record. (Photo 1 © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)

Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Tuesday, April 8, 2014 — Joshua Chua of Raffles Institution (RI) set multiple records en route to retaining his boys’ C Division 100m hurdles title at the 55th National Inter-School Track & Field Championships.

The championship and national under-15 record at the start of the day belonged to Singapore Sports School alumnus Linus Chong, who clocked 13.81 seconds in 2010. With Joshua going devastatingly quick over the hurdles, the mark never stood a chance of staying in the record books.

Joshua smashed the mark by putting in a stunning 13.35s performance in the morning heats, and then proceeded to lower it to 13.26s in the final hours later.

Chong Wei Guan of Singapore Sports School was second with a timing of 14.22s, while Isaac Toh of RI finished third in 14.59s.

The two-time C Division 100m hurdles champion commented, “It feels good to break Linus’ record. I have to thank my teammates and coaches for that. They have always been there to calm me down and help me with my training.”

The 14-year-old has set his sights on the B Division 110m hurdles mark in the following year. The record of 13.98 seconds was set in 2010, by Victoria School alumnus and Youth Olympic Games participant Sean Toh. “It will be much harder, as it is a new height and new distance for me. I will still try my best.”

The hurdle heights for the C Boys’ 100m and B Boys’ 110m are 0.840m and 0.914m respectively.

Joshua has also qualified for the 100m final, having run a blistering personal best of 11.50s in the semi-finals. It is the seventh fastest mark of all time in the history of this event in this division at these championships.

C Div 100m Hurdles (Boys) Results
1st Joshua Chua Hanwei (#231, Raffles Institution) – 13.26s
2nd Chong Wei Guan (#89, Singapore Sports School) – 14.22s
3rd Toh Beam Isaac (#247, Raffles Institution) – 14.59s
4th Tung Kin Chong Colin (#248, Raffles Institution) – 15.06s
5th Loo Guan Lin (#449, Hwa Chong Institution) – 15.42s
6th Kannan Asvind (#405, Victoria School) – 15.63s
7th Jerome Hoo Jun Jie (#403, Victoria School) – 15.82s
8th Muhammad Rayyaan Mohamad R P (#100, Singapore Sports School) – 18.37s

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h0MaLlWjxU#t=38

Video © SAA. Used with permission.

More photos next page