Story by Les Tan and Erwin Wong/Red Sports. Photos by Lim Yong Teck, Clara Yuan and Matthew Lau/Red Sports
Christopher Cheong reacts after winning the men’s 200m breaststroke final. Christopher’s timing of 2:16.70 is a new national open record, and also qualified him for the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in June. (Photo 1 © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)
OCBC Aquatic Centre, Tuesday, March 17, 2015 — With qualification for the 28th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games on the line, fast times, national records and thrilling races were on the cards at the Singapura Finance 46th Singapore National Age Group (SNAG) Swimming Championships. It certainly lived up to its billing on the first night of competition for the senior swimmers, after the juniors had their turn from 13 to 15 March.
Quah Zheng Wen set a new national open record of 55.86s in the men’s 100m backstroke super final. It broke his previous mark and meet record of 55.99s for 18 year olds and over set at last year’s SNAG meet.
It was an extremely fast race which saw seven of the eight participants swim their lifetime bests, including 15-year-old Francis Fong who broke his personal best (PB) by a huge margin of 0.90s to finish second.
Zheng Wen’s national mark in the 100m backstroke came less than half an hour after he finished second in the men’s 200m freestyle super final.
“I knew I was going for back-to-back events and I wasn’t expecting much. The record was a bonus,” said Zheng Wen. “Since finishing school last year, and with less on my plate, 100 percent focus on training helped me break the record”, he added.
The 18-year-old also brought up the difference new national head coach Sergio Lopez has made. “I like the discipline. He instills punctuality. When everyone comes in at the same time, it’s good,” said Zheng Wen.
“My fitness level is up enough to do 200m events compared to December 2014 when I could only do 100m events. The speed is still the same,” said Zheng Wen.
As to what events he will swim in at June’s SEA Games, Zheng Wen said he has to discuss it with Sergio first. He swam in five individual and two relay events at the last Games in December 2013.
Zheng Wen and Zach Ong, who swam a 57.03s at the Singapore National Swimming Championships (SNSC) in December 2014, have the two fastest times in the qualifying window for the SEA Games and will thus be selected for this event.
In the men’s 200m breaststroke super final, Christopher Cheong came from behind to beat Lionel Khoo and set a new national open record of 2 minutes 16.70 seconds. A late burst in the final 20m saw him overtake Lionel, who had led from the start. Lionel held the previous mark of 2:17.69 which he set in 2012, and also managed to go under that time in this race with a 2:17.30 finish.
“I was at a loss for words after the race,” said Christopher. “In the last 50m, I just wanted to beat Lionel, because we have a strong rivalry.” Christopher also had beaten Lionel in December 2014 at the SNSC.
“My training volume has almost doubled after the last SEA Games. This year I stopped doing weights and did medicine ball,” added the 18-year-old. He also said new coach Sergio Lopez has helped him and the rest of the squad improve.
“Chris was exceptionally fast!” said a gracious Lionel, who has qualified for this event at June’s SEA Games along with Christopher, by virtue of them being the fastest two swimmers during the qualifying window. Their times clocked at this meet would have placed them second and third respectively at the last Games.
Lionel, who last participated in the biennial Games in 2011, is aiming to compete in three individual and one relay event at the June Games.
Brilliant Chua finished third in a new personal best of 2:20.45. It enabled him to leapfrog over former national record holder Mark Tan into third place in the all-time local rankings, and also broke the meet record of 2:22.29 for 15-17 year olds which he had set in the morning heats.
Maximillian Ang, 13, set a new national under-14 record of 2:26.59 in the morning’s heats. The previous mark of 2:27.00 was held by Dynes Quek. Maximillian then recorded a slightly-slower time of 2:27.34 to finish sixth in the super final.
“It was very pressurising swimming with the older boys,” said Maximillian after the 200m breaststroke super final in the evening. Having also taken part in the 200m freestyle heats and winning the final for the 13-14 year olds, he described the experience of doing four races in one day as “very intense”.
“It was also pressurising this morning,” said Maximillian, referring to the heats. “During training it felt good and I thought that it would be possible to break the record.
He will swim a total of nine events throughout the course of the championships.
The first super final of the evening saw Danny Yeo beat Zheng Wen in a close men’s 200m freestyle race, where both swimmers clocked two of the four fastest ever times recorded by a local swimmer.
Danny touched home in 1:49.59, breaking his PB of 1:49.68 set at last year’s Asian Games, but falling just short of Joseph Schooling’s national open mark of 1:49.47.
Zheng Wen became the third member of the sub-1:50 club with his 1:49.89 finish to improve on his previous PB of 1:50.29.
“It’s a pretty good result for this time of the season,” said Danny. “I haven’t swum the 200m free since the Asian Games.”
Danny, who said he had not been clocking these times in training, is aiming to do two individual events (200m and 400m freestyle) and one relay (4x200m relay) at the June Games.
Danny (1:49.59) and Zheng Wen (1:49.89) will be the fastest two swimmers in this event when the SEA Games qualifying window closes on 22 March. They have also each confirmed a place in the 4x200m freestyle relay team at the Games, while Joseph Schooling (1:50.21), Pang Sheng Jun (1:51.31), Teo Zhen Ren (1:52.48) and Benedict Boon (1:53.38) are in the running for the two remaining relay spots.
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