Story by Iman Hashim/Red Sports. Photos by Les Tan/Red Sports
Hairul Syamil (JSS #571) cleared 1.88 metres to win gold. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Bishan Stadium, Thursday, April 14, 2016 — Hairul Syamil Mardan of Jurong Secondary clinched the B Division Boys’ high jump gold for the second year running at the 57th National Schools Track and Field Championships, jumping over 1.88 metres.
The Secondary Five student had come in third in 2014 before winning gold last year with his current personal best of 1.92m.
This time round, he came out on top again amid competition from Chong Wei Kit (1.86m) of Singapore Sports School and Alex Foo (1.82m) of Catholic High School, who came in second and third respectively.
Hairul had cleared 1.82m on his first attempt, and then skipped the 1.84m height.
At one stage during the event, it looked like Wei Kit would have the upper hand when he cleared 1.86m with his first attempt, while Hairul failed on his first jump before clearing the height on his second attempt.
However, Hairul then redeemed himself by clearing 1.88m on his first try, with Wei Kit settling for the silver after failing on all three tries.
Hairul subsequently had a choice to set the bar at 1.93m in an attempt to break his personal best, but boldly decided to go for the championship record instead.
The 2.02m championship record is held by Bryan Wong of Raffles Institution, set in 2014.
Hairul came close on his first attempt at 2.03m, getting his arched back clear over the bar but his lower body ultimately knocked it down. He eventually failed on his other two tries.
On his victory, he commented, “I feel very good because recently I sustained an ankle injury from basketball, which made me not able to train for about one month, so I feel really proud of myself for defending my gold. The actual goal was to break the championship record, but it’s okay because I tried my best.”
Hairul represents his school in two sports, the other being basketball. In this year’s track and field championships, he had also taken part in the 100m event, but did not make it through to the semi-finals.
Hairul said that he hopes of representing Singapore in the high jump one day.
Not forgetting the man who has helped him to his victory, he added, “I would like to thank my coach, Mr. Elwin Yong. He has been coaching me since primary school and got me to where I am today.”
With this second win in the bag, Hairul became the first field athlete from his school to win two gold medals at the schools championships since Xie Yulin. The latter was a double champion in the long and high jump in 1990, a feat he first achieved the year before.
B Division Boys High Jump – Top 8
1st Hairul Syamil B Mardan (#571, Jurong Secondary) — 1.88 metres
2nd Chong Wei Kit (#124, Singapore Sports School) — 1.86
3rd Alex Foo Mao Yang (#40, Catholic High School) — 1.82
4th Kampton Kam (#475, Victoria School) — 1.80
5th Koh Jay Yow (#47, Catholic High School) — 1.76
6th Roy Kang (#561, Hwa Chong Institution) — 1.76
7th Chong Koi Jun (#533, Hwa Chong Institution) — 1.73
7th Neo Yi-En (#332, St. Joseph’s Institution) — 1.73
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