Story by Clement Tan/Red Sports, with additional reporting by Erwin Wong and Iman Hashim. Pictures by Cheah Wenqi/Red Sports

Lim En Ning (#322) from Dunman High School sets a new championship record and takes home the gold medal with a leap of 5.79m. (Photo 1 © Cheah Wenqi/Red Sports)

Bishan Stadium, Friday, 21 April 2017 — Lim En Ning was in disbelief after her fifth attempt in the B girls long jump final at the 58th National Schools Track and Field Championships. In leaping 5.79 metres, the Dunman High School student not only knocked the winds out of her closest rivals, but also improved on her personal best by half a metre.

More crucially, En Ning’s remarkable effort bettered Tia Rozario’s national schools record of 5.66m, which was just set two weeks ago when she won the A division title for the Singapore Sports School. Before Friday, Tia also owned all three divisional long jump records. En Ning now owns two: the B girls and national schools.

“The fifth jump off felt really good, I managed to pull my feet close to me,” said En Ning. “It’s one of the few times that everything — the speed, the runup, the jump — just came together for me.”

To be sure, Tia is the reigning under-18 record-holder for the 5.86m she set in Thailand last year. She jumped 5.85m last month at the 12th South-east Asian Youth Athletics Championships in the Philippines. Both distances are still six, seven centimetres better than En Ning’s best effort, but Tia could now have some real competition if En Ning keeps up this sizzling form.

Take nothing away from the monumental effort by the Secondary Four student. In a sign of how much she’s improved in the past year, she only finished fourth in last year’s B girls long jump with 4.91m. She is also slated to compete in the B girls high jump on Monday.

Coming into this meet, En Ning’s personal best stood at 5.29m and she had hoped to jump about 5.40m. Valencia Ho of Nanyang Girls’ High School and Rachel Low of Cedar Girls’ Secondary were probably the two favourites for the gold medal. They eventually finished second with 5.38m and third with 5.27m, respectively.

“It’s very dream-like, it felt unreal,” said Elwin Yong, En Ning’s coach. “With this jump, she has improved on her personal best by more than 80 centimetres this season.”

With one stunning leap, En Ning made great strides up the rankings in the age group and senior all-time lists. She is now ranked second behind Tia Rozario (5.86m) in the under-17 and under-18 age groups, and third behind Eugenia Tan (6.18m) and Tia in the under-20. In the senior women’s rankings, En Ning is fifth, behind only Eugenia (6.18m), Yu Long Nyu (5.88m), as well as Chan See Huey and Tia (both 5.86m).

B Division Girls Long Jump Final Top Eight
1st Lim En Ning (#322 Dunman High School) 5.79 metres (New National Schools, B girls record)
2nd Valencia Ho (#469 Nanyang Girls’ High School) 5.38
3rd Rachel Loh (#274 Cedar Girls’ Secondary) 5.27
4th Khor Xinyi (#268 Cedar Girls’ Secondary) 4.99
5th Lin Peiqin (#370 St Anthony’s Conossian Secondary) 4.95
6th Sherlynn Yen (#90 Singapore Sports School) 4.94
7th Cham Jay Yin (#23 CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School) 4.94
8th Tan Tse Teng (#49 CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School) 4.83

More photos next page