53rd national schools track and field championship

Donovan Chan clocked 21.75 to set a new championship record in the A Div 200m final. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)

Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Thursday, April 5, 2012 – Donovan Chan won his first Schools’ 200 metres title in style when he stormed to the Boys’ A Division gold medal in record time at the 53rd National Schools’ Track and Field Championships.

The Hwa Chong Institution student started in lane six and made up the stagger on Anglo-Chinese Junior College’s Nicholas Chan in lane seven almost immediately. Donovan held the lead all the way to the finish line and stopped the clock at 21.75 seconds, a new personal best.

It also bettered the electronically-timed championship record of 21.78, set in 2005 by Jonah Tang, then of Raffles Junior College. Sandy Ang, then of Woodsville Secondary, set the hand-timed record of 21.7 in the 1984 final.

Donovan’s schoolmate Tan Zong Yang, the defending 100m and 200m A Division champion, had to settle for silver this time, with a personal best of 22.00. Raffles Institution’s Ng Chin Hui, who won the 400m title in record time on Tuesday, April 3rd, was third in a time of 22.19.

This is the third consecutive time that Donovan, Zong Yang and Chin Hui have finished on the podium in a Schools’ 200m final, and each athlete has now placed first, second and third in these three finals.

Donovan came into this final on the back of a 21.85 run at last month’s Singapore Junior meet, and in bettering the time by a tenth of second, he is the fastest national under-19 200m runner since Mohd Shameer ran a 21.50 at the National Junior Championships 10 years ago.

Results
1st Chan Zhiyuan Donovan (Hwa Chong Institution) – 21.75 (Championship record)
2nd Tan Zong Yang (Hwa Chong Institution) – 22.00
3rd Ng Chin Hui (Raffles Institution) – 22.19
4th Wong Ming (Serangoon Junior College) – 22.81
5th Toh Ren Yi Ezra (Raffles Institution) – 22.83
6th Dillon Wee Xing Yu (Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)) – 23.37
7th Nicholas Chan Yu Herng (Anglo-Chinese Junior College) – 23.47
8th Law Zer Wei Joshua (Anderson Junior College) – 23.57

Video © SAA. Used with permission.

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