Story by Ryan Lim/Red Sports. Photos by Les Tan and Chua Kai Yun/Red Sports.
Diane Pragasam (#86, SSP) clocked a new PB of 1:01.44 to win gold. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Bishan Stadium, Thursday, April 21, 2016 — Diane Pragasam, 14, of Singapore Sports School (SSP) stopped the clock in a new personal best of 1 minute 1.44 seconds to clinch first place in the B Division Girls 400m final at the 57th National Schools Track and Field Championships.
Sports School had another podium finisher in Addeen Idzni who came in third with a time of 01:03.01s. Second place went to Abigail Tan of CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School, who finished in 01:01.90s.
This is Diane’s third National Schools 400 metres gold medal in as many years. In 2014, she ran the C Division race in 01:02.18 to win gold. In 2015, she repeated the feat and clocked 01:02.09 to retain her title.
Coming around the bend at the 200 metres mark, Diane picked up the pace and went at full sprint in the final 100 metres. Abigail was not far behind, but struggled to close the gap as fatigue started to show. Diane finished the race steadily in a well-measured performance.
In a post-race interview, Diane commented, “The race was quite good. I thought about the race a lot, how I was going to run, what was going to happen. Almost every possibility. I felt that I was very focused when I came here. I felt like I was putting my whole mind and body into it. I just gave it my all.”
On race strategy, she added, “I tried something really different. I went outside my comfort zone, to try and get a better timing. To be more focused at the start. The end of the race is really just about fighting yourself. It is only you and the clock, the position does not really matter. I was really motivated to beat the others who were older than me.”
When quizzed on her goals, she said, “A goal for myself is always to beat my personal best timing and make sure that the timing keeps dropping. And also to keep training harder.”
B Div 400m (Girls) Results
1st Diane Hilary Pragasam (#86, SSP) — 01:01.44
2nd Abigail Louise Tan (#16, SNG) — 01:01.90
3rd Addeen Idzni Bte Imran (#83, SSP) — 01:03.01
4th Amanda Ashley Woo Jia Min (#408, NYGH) — 01:03.04
5th Grace Shani Anthony (#213, RGS) — 01:04.53
6th Goh Li-Yan, Jessica (#135, STC) — 01:05.21
7th Noor Fatehah Bte Mustaffa (#119, HIJ) — 01:05.82
8th Chiam Jia Yuan (#248, CG) — 01:06.71
More photos next page
Leave A Comment