Story by Les Tan and Erwin Wong/Red Sports. Photos by Lim Yong Teck and Lee Jian Wei/Red Sports

Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships

Zachary Ian Tan’s all-rounded performance made him the most valuable male swimmer at the 46th Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships. He is flanked by Singapore Swimming Association Secretary General Ang Peng Wee (left) and head coach of the national swimming team, Sergio López Miró. (Photo 1 © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)

OCBC Aquatic Centre, Sunday, March 15, 2015 — Zachary Ian Tan, 11, touched home first in the 100m freestyle. All eyes in the stands then turned to the scoreboard. 58.68 seconds. He had done it – the Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) student had broken his 11th record in as many events at the Singapura Finance 46th National Age Group Swimming Championships.

“I wasn’t sure about winning (the 100m freestyle),” said Zachary after the race. “I’m grateful to win because I haven’t hit 58 seconds before. I was still doing 1:02 in training.”

“My start wasn’t so good,” recalled Zachary, referring to his visibly slow start off the blocks which he attributed to nerves. “But I told myself not to panic and managed to pick up in the second 50.”

Zachary’s achievements also saw him win the Most Valuable Swimmer award for boys on points.

“I feel really happy about winning it again for the second year in a row,” added Zachary, who turns 12 on June 14. “I’d like to thank my coach and parents for their support throughout this entire meet. Without them, I don’t think I could do so well.”

The final day of competition saw Zachary entered for four events after having broken seven meet records in as many events over the first two days. On Day 1, he had made the crowd sit up after breaking Joseph Schooling’s eight-year-old record for 12 year olds in the 400m individual medley by a staggering 25.91s.

Zachary, swimming under the banner of Swimfast Aquatic Club, won the 100m butterfly in a time of 1 minute 2.76 seconds, breaking the previous record of 1:03.96 set by Garret Tan. He then lowered the 200m freestyle record by 2.75s with a 2:09.04 finish.

And that was just the morning session.

The afternoon session saw Zachary win the 50m breaststroke in 33.12s, just under the old record of 33.57s set by Brilliant Chua in 2011. Zachary then snagged his final record of the day in the 100m freestyle with his 58.68 finish, beating the old record of 59.18s set by Jonathan Tan on March 16, 2014.

Two 8-year-old boys got their names into the record books today. Marcus Choo Zhengxiang clocked 46.39s to win the 50m breaststroke, beating the old mark of 46.66s set by Ng Yi Wang in 2014.

Tan Wei Yee stopped the clock at 1:29.71 to win the 100m backstroke. The old mark was 1:31.70 set in 2013 by Mateen Lutfiy Shyam.

39 meet records were broken at this year’s championships, bringing the total cash prize amount raised to $7,800. There are cash rewards of $200 for a meet record and $500 for a national record, and the money raised will be given to the Singapore Swimming Association (SSA). SSA will in turn give the money to record-breakers to help defray training costs.

For more details of the event, go to: www.facebook.com/swimsnag

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