Story by Iman Hashim/Red Sports. Photos by Les Tan and Chua Kai Yun/Red Sports
Matz Chan (#215) of RI clinched gold with a timing of 14.21 seconds. (Photo 1 © Chua Kai Yun/Red Sports)
Bishan Stadium, Tuesday, April 19, 2016 — Matz Chan of Raffles Institution (RI) clocked 14.21 seconds to claim the C Division Boys’ 100 metres hurdles gold at the 57th National Schools Track and Field Championships.
Jered Wong (14.89s) made it a one-two finish for RI, while Muhammad Irfan Abdul Rani of National Junior College finished third in 15.32s.
Matz’s result showed good improvement from last year, where he had finished second in the event in 15.16s. His timing was also a new personal best, going under his previous mark of 14.68s, set at the 42nd Singapore Athletics U18/U20 Championships in March this year.
Detailing his performances in the heats and final, Matz commented, “During my heats, I made a few mistakes like hitting a hurdle. Technically it was quite a relaxed race for me but I didn’t push that much because my old injuries recurred yesterday, so I had to get it massaged. But luckily it healed by today so I could run. For the heats I took it easy, then in the final I did my best in this current state so I think I’m happy with my results.”
“I was expecting to break my PB because my previous races weren’t exactly up to my parents’ and coach’s expectations,” he continued.
Matz led the field with a time of 14.74s in the heats. This is the 14th consecutive time in this event that the fastest qualifier in the heats has gone on to win the gold in the final.
Matz could not be more pleased that his teammate Jered joined him on the podium with a silver medal. He said, “I’m really happy because Jered has also been training very, very hard, like almost four to five times a week. I think he really deserves getting second because both of us have been training very hard and I really want to thank my coach, Mr Melvin Tan, my parents and also my teammates for pushing us this far.”
For now, Matz will look to retain his 400m hurdles gold and is aiming to break the championship record. Last year, he had won the event in 1:02.87. This time round, he qualified for the final as the fastest in the heats with a 59.03s timing.
The C Division Boys’ 400m hurdles championship record currently stands at 58.73s, set by Loh Guo Pei, then of Hua Yi Secondary, in 2005. Matz’s heat time makes him the second fastest ever in the history of this event at these Championships.
The 400m hurdles final will take place on Monday, April 25.
C Division Boys’ 100m Hurdles – Top 8
1st Matz Chan (#215, Raffles Institution) — 14.21 seconds
2nd Jered Wong Jen Weng (#207, Raffles Institution) — 14.89
3rd Muhammad Irfan B Abdul Rani (#189, National JC) — 15.32
4th Ezra Ho Jincheng (#429, Hwa Chong Institution) — 15.45
5th Jerome Toh Weiheng (#388, Victoria School) — 15.47
6th Lai Yiyi (#109, Singapore Sports School) — 15.64
7th Shabbir Adnan Shakir (#226, Raffles Institution) — 17.02
Mohamed Haziq B Mohamed Yazli (#114, Singapore Sports School) — DSQ
More photos next page
Leave A Comment