Story by REDintern Nicole Lum and Erwin Wong/Red Sports. Photos by Lim Yong Teck and Clara Yuan/Red Sports
Rachel Marjorie Tseng set a new meet record for 15-17 year olds in the women’s 400m freestyle with a timing of 4:19.15. Her finish also secured her a nomination for the event at the upcoming 28th SEA Games. (Photo 1 © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)
OCBC Aquatic Centre, Saturday, March 21, 2015 — Rachel Marjorie Tseng bagged another meet record for the 15-17 year olds when she clocked a time of 4 minutes 19.15 seconds in the women’s 400m freestyle final at the 46th Singapura Finance Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships.
She also broke the age group meet record for the 800m freestyle by more than ten seconds on March 17, and has qualified to swim both events at the 2015 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games to be held here in June.
However, the 17-year-old was not happy with her performance today. “Although I met the qualifying time, it is not a personal best (PB) for me.” Rachel’s PB for this event is 4:18.70, done at last December’s Singapore National Swimming Championships. “My coaches are not very happy with it either, and we are looking forward to the next competition for improvement,” she explained.
As to why her swim was not satisfactory, Rachel said, “It’s hard to say what affected it. But I’m looking to improve on my preparation and the way I go into a race, especially the mental aspects of it.”
The teenager is currently training under Gary Tan and national head coach, Sergio Lopez. She believes that there is still a lot she can learn from her past races, and expects to work closely with her coaches. This is especially so as Rachel only just joined the National Squad in January. “I will have to sit down with them and discuss things like the new coaching style, new training programmes and the tapering process,” she added.
Rachel, who finished fourth in the 400m freestyle with a time of 4:22.17 at the 2013 SEA Games, is already looking forward to this year’s edition. “I’m pumped up and excited to see my progress towards the SEA Games,” she said.
Rachel’s 4:18.70 effort at the Singapore National Swimming Championships makes her the top SEA Games qualifier in the 400m freestyle. The SEA Games selection policy stipulated by the Singapore Swimming Association states that the fastest two swimmers of each individual event during the qualifying window will be selected for the Games. Therefore, Christie Chue will join Rachel to swim the 400m freestyle at the Games after touching home with a time of 4:20.88 in today’s final.
Christie’s swim took more than seven seconds off her previous PB of 4:28.03. “I’m very happy with the PB. I went into the race with an open mind, and told myself not to think about anything much. During the race, I was only thinking of finishing it quickly,” she said.
The 14-year-old will make her debut at this year’s SEA Games as she is currently the second fastest swimmer behind Quah Ting Wen and Rachel for the women’s 200m and 400m freestyle respectively. Her 200m freestyle swim on March 20 also guarantees her a spot for the 4x200m freestyle relay. In addition, she is in contention for a place in the 4x100m freestyle relay team.
In the women’s 50m breaststroke, Roanne Ho came in first with a time of 32.50s. Behind her was Nicholle Toh and Kathlyn Laiu who finished in 34.27s and 34.29s respectively.
Roanne is the national open record holder at 32.37s, and now has the four fastest times in this event.
Roanne’s 32.50 showing makes her the fastest SEA Games qualifier in this event. America-based Samantha Yeo is the second fastest with her 33.26s time clocked at last September’s Asian Games.
Roanne has also qualified to swim the 100m breaststroke in the SEA Games after her 1:13.44 swim two days ago. She currently ranks behind Samantha Yeo, who has qualified as the fastest swimmer when she did a 1:12.28 at the same Asian Games.
For more details of the event, go to: www.facebook.com/swimsnag
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