Story by Iman Hashim/Red Sports. Photos by Rebekah Abbott and Benedict Yeo/Red Sports.
Tia Louise Rozario (SSP #42) leaps over the last hurdle before finishing with a time of 15.05s, taking home her fifth consecutive hurdles gold in the championships. (Photo 1 © Rebekah Abbott/Red Sports)
Bishan Stadium, Thursday, April 20, 2017 — Tia Louise Rozario had won every hurdles final she had competed in at the annual National Schools Track and Field Championships.
On Thursday afternoon, the fifth-year Singapore Sports School (SSP) student made it five out of five, dominating the A Division girls’ 100 metres hurdles in a personal best of 15.05 seconds.
Hwa Chong Institution’s Tan Jing Wei finished second in 16.00s, while Raffles Institution’s Clenyce Tan was only a hundredth of a second behind in third.
Said Tia on her performance, “I feel really happy, because I knew that breaking my PB would be quite hard. The weather was great, everything was good, and I’m glad I managed to finish the whole race smoothly.”
The last athlete to win at least five consecutive gold medals in the hurdles was Jannah Wong, then of CHIJ Katong Convent and Raffles Institution. She won six gold medals in all three divisions from 2009 to 2014.
Jannah – the current women’s national record holder in the event – also holds the A Division girls’ record of 14.69s, a mark which Tia has her sights set on next year.
On working towards that goal, Tia said, “In terms of hurdle clearance I think I’m quite okay for now, but I’m definitely going to try to improve my speed next year.”
Tia’s hurdles title adds to her win in the long jump earlier in the championships, where she set a new A Division girls’ record of 5.66m.
Asked if she has been focusing more on the long jump this year instead of the hurdles, Tia was quick to reject the notion.
“I wouldn’t really say that,” she said. “I didn’t compete in the hurdles as much this year as it would always clash with the long jump. So I would always choose to do the long jump but I train for both of them equally, twice a week each.”
Tia will compete in the long jump at the 79th Singapore Open Championships next Thursday, where she will aim to improve on her national under-18 girls’ mark of 5.86m.
She will also be jumping at the 2nd Asian Youth Athletics Championships in Bangkok next month.
As for now, her attention will turn to the A Division girls’ 4x100m relay heats on Monday, April 24.
On her hopes for her SSP relay team, Tia said, “We are a relatively new team. We’ve only trained twice together, so we’re really just doing this for the experience. I mean if we can come up with a medal, that would be amazing. We’re all good friends, and we just want to do it in the spirit of sport.”
A Division Girls 110m Hurdles – Top 8
1st Tia Louise Rozario (#42, Singapore Sports School) – 15.05 seconds
2nd Tan Jing Wei (#249, Hwa Chong Institution) – 16.00
3rd Clenyce Tan (#108, Raffles Institution) – 16.01
4th Alyssa Goh (#223, Hwa Chong Institution) – 17.09
5th Charmaine Chong (#104, Raffles Institution) – 18.06
6th Goh Shi Jie (#86, National Junior College) – 18.11
7th Emma Tan (#201, Anglo-Chinese Junior College) – 18.82
8th Chelsey Ho (#237, Hwa Chong Institution) – 19.56
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