SINGAPORE – Singapore’s record-breaking run at the Fina World Swimming Championships (25m) continued on Friday, as swimmers Teong Tzen Wei, Maximillian Ang and Letitia Sim rewrote their previous national marks in their respective events.
With his 21.09-second effort in the men’s 50m freestyle semi-finals, Teong erased his old record of 21.27 from 2021. This comes two days after he set an Asian record in the 50m butterfly en route to becoming the first Singaporean to compete in a final at the short-course world championships.
The 25-year-old was 17th in Friday’s 50m free heats after he touched the wall at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in 21.30 seconds, missing out on the last semi-final spot by 0.01sec.
But the withdrawal of American Michael Andrew, who finished eighth in the heats, saw Teong sneaking into the semis, where he placed 11th overall.
Ang and Sim also set national records in the men’s and women’s 200m breaststroke respectively.
Ang, who had rewritten the 100m breaststroke national mark two days ago, clocked 2min 8.12sec to be 19th in the heats, erasing his previous record of 2:08.49.
The 21-year-old said: “I feel awesome about my swims. I came to this meet wanting to race with the world’s best and I raced hard. I did some good times and broke national records.
“It wasn’t a good start for me because I was affected by the dry weather but I adapted quickly. Overall I’m proud of my performance and I am looking forward to the end of the meet.”
This was also Sim’s second national record at the meet. The 19-year-old bettered the women’s 200m individual medley mark on Tuesday, before repeating the feat in the 200m breast heats (2:21.60).
Her effort in Melbourne eclipsed her earlier mark of 2:27.44, which she achieved at the Fina Swimming World Cup in November.
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MCI (P) 076/10/2022, MCI (P) 077/10/2022. Published by SPH Media Limited, Co. Regn. No. 202120748H. Copyright © 2022 SPH Media Limited. All rights reserved.
