Story by Dylan Chua and Ryan Lim/Red Sports. Photos by Chua Kai Yun and Soh Jun Wei/Red Sports.
Ashley Lim reacts after the girls’ 400m IM timed finals at the 47th Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships. She finished first among the 11 year olds with a timing of 5:28.81, breaking the previous meet record by nearly nine seconds. (Photo 1 © Chua Kai Yun/Red Sports)
OCBC Aquatic Centre, Friday, March 11, 2016 — Ashley Lim, 11, won two races and set a meet record on Day 1 of the Singapura Finance 47th Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships.
The swimmer from Singapore Swimming Club won the 400 metres individual medley (IM) in a record time of 5 minutes 28.81 seconds. It smashed the year-old mark of 5:37.80 held by Claresa Liau.
Ashley said, “I was very happy with my last event, the 400m individual medley, because I managed to break the record.”
Ashley had also earlier won the 50m freestyle in a time of 30.01. Her winning times in both races were also new personal best timings. She was, however, not satisfied with her performance in the shorter event, saying, “The 50m freestyle was not as great as I failed to hit my target of a sub-30 seconds timing.”
The Nanyang Primary student added, “I was quite happy as I really didn’t expect to beat Claresa.” They both raced in the same timed final, but were ranked according to their age group. Claresa is a year older than Ashley.
For now, Ashley is definitely setting her sights on greater things. “I want to win an Olympic gold medal when I grow up,” she said.
Claresa, a swimmer from Chinese Swimming Club Singapore, was not far behind on the day as she also won two events in the 12-year-olds age group. She first clinched the 200m breaststroke in a time of 2:51.28, before coming in fastest among her peers in the 400m IM with a time of 5:33.62.
When asked about the 400m IM, Claresa said, “The race was tiring. I had a stitch in the last 100m of the individual medley. It was a really close fight between Ashley and I, but I could not go fast enough in the freestyle portion as my stitch was too painful. Since my pet stroke is fly and breaststroke, my coach and I planned to go fast for that.”
She added, “I want to swim the 200m breaststroke at the SEA Games in the future, and also participate in the Asian Games.”
The championships continue on March 12, 8.30am, at the OCBC Aquatic Centre.
Girls results – Day 1
Girls 11 year olds 200m breaststroke
1st Avril Yee – 2:55.79
2nd Rachel Tay – 2:55.90
3rd Jessiree Kwok – 2:59.79
Girls 12 year olds 200m breaststroke
1st Claresa Liau – 2:51.38
2nd Bonnie Yeo – 2:52.44
3rd Hannah Tan – 2:55.08
Girls 8 year olds 50m freestyle
1st Ashley Koh – 37.00s
2nd Ye Qin Wen – 37.63s
3rd Chen Xing Tong – 38.35s
Girls 9 year olds 50m freestyle
1st Primasari Ni Putu Pande – 33.17s
2nd Lynette Some – 33.99s
3rd Hannah Wee – 34.78s
Girls 10 year olds 50m freestyle
1st Naomi Ong – 31.66s
2nd Athena Chang – 32.16s
3rd Scarlett Nichol – 33.31s
Girls 11 year olds 50m freestyle
1st Ashley Lim – 30.01s
2nd Geraldine Leow – 30.94s
T3rd Rachael Tay – 31.64s
T3rd Avril Yee –31.64s
Girls 12 year olds 50m freestyle
1st Charla Tan – 28.76s
2nd Carmen Weiler Sastre – 29.03s
3rd Elena Pedersen – 29.06s
Girls 11 year olds 400m IM
1st Ashley Lim – 5:28.81 (meet record)
2nd Jessiree Kwok – 5:40.31
3rd Rachael Tay – 5:47.47
Girls 12 year olds 400m IM
1st Claresa Liau – 5:33.62
2nd Rae Low – 5:44.13
3rd Yvette Teo – 6:15.65
More photos next page
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