Story by REDintern Alyssa Almas. Photos by Iman Hashim/Red Sports and REDintern Julianna Jothi.
Gold number 2: Nan Hua High School’s Lim Yu Zhe bagged the B Division boys’ 800m gold in 2:03.22 to add to his 1500m victory. (Photo 1 © Iman Hashim/Red Sports)
Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Monday, March 25, 2019 — Nan Hua High School’s Lim Yu Zhe won his second individual gold medal at the 60th National Schools Track and Field Championships in the B Division Boys’ 800 metres final, having bagged his first gold in the 1500m.
Yu Zhe crossed the finish line in a timing of 2 minutes and 3.22 seconds, shaving off two seconds from his previous personal best, a timing of 2:05.43 achieved in the heats.
“Today my main focus was to get the win — I really wanted to get the double after having won the 1500m final,” said the Secondary Four student. “To me, my race went quite smoothly as I managed to finish strong, because that doesn’t always happen for me.”
Throughout the race, Yu Zhe faced tough competition from Harieharan S/O Durairaj of Singapore Sports School (SSP), who tried in vain to overtake Yu Zhe on the last lap. Turning into the last bend of the race, Yu Zhe saw Harieharan closing in on him.
However, Harieharan, who looked to have some kind of injury, slowed down right before the finish line — which allowed his fellow SSP teammate Shan S/O S Anandan to overtake him and clinch the silver instead, with a timing of 2:04.19. Harieharan finished third in 2:08.23.
When asked about his thoughts going into the race, Yu Zhe explained that he was following the same strategy that helped him win the 1500m final.
“My race strategy was similar to that in the 1500m — I wanted to take control of the race. Since the start of the race I was leading, so towards the last lap I just knew that I had to maintain my lead. Towards the last 200m I just focused on myself and relaxed so that I wouldn’t tense up,” he clarified.
Winning two out of two events at the schools meet, Yu Zhe was thankful for the support he had received over the past year.
“I would just like to thank my coach, because he was the one who made me believe in myself, and made me realise that I could actually do it,” he said with a smile.
Ending it off, he added: “I would like to thank my competitors for the race, because a few of them were following me closely behind. That really pressured me and pushed me to do my best.”
The race turned out to be a decent outing for Nan Hua, with Yu Zhe’s teammate Jeffers Wong also claiming a top five spot. Yu Zhe’s double victory also adds to the C Division 1500m win by his junior Mervyn Ong, who a few days later went on to clinch the middle distance double as well with the 800m gold.
Having ended his track season with two gold medals, Yu Zhe now looks to the National Schools Cross Country Championships in April.
B Division Boys’ 800m Final – Results
1st Lim Yu Zhe (Nan Hua High School, #605) — 02:03.22
2nd Shan S/O S Anandan (Singapore Sports School, #150) — 02:04.19
3rd Harieharan S/O Durairaj (Singapore Sports School, #136) — 02:08.23
4th Raam Kumar Muthukumaran (Singapore Sports School, #148) — 02:10.39
5th Jeffers Wong Yi Khai (Nan Hua High School, #603) — 02:12.68
6th Joshua Khoo Jun Xian (Catholic High School, #52) — 02:13.86
7th Abenav Ananth Aravindan (Victoria School, #474) — 02:14.17
8th Tan Jun Hao (Gan Eng Seng School, #225) — 02:14.43
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