HANOI – Quah Jing Wen won Singapore’s first gold medal in swimming at this year’s Hanoi SEA Games when she won the women’s 200m butterfly in a national and meeting record of 2 min 9.52 sec at My Dinh Water Sports Palace on Saturday (May 14).
The 21-year-old, two-time defending champion in the competition, finished ahead of Vietnam’s My Thao Le Thi (2: 14.20) and Thailand’s Kamonchanok Kwanmuang (2: 14.35).
Quah just set the national record last year, with a time of 2: 10.01 at the Dolfin Fran Crippen Pro Swim Meet Of Champions in California.
Her older sister Ting Wen made two golds for Singapore by winning the ladies’ 100 m freestyle in 55.60 sec. Christie Chue finished fourth at 56.99.
In a later race, their brother, Zheng Wen, won his fifth straight gold medal in the men’s 100 m backstroke and touched the wall in 54.83 sec.
Vietnam’s Paul Le Nguyen finished second in 56.08 seconds, followed by Indonesia’s Farrel Armandio Tangkas (56.21).
Maximillian Ang took a silver in the men’s 100m breaststroke in 1: 01.58, which exceeded the previous national record of 1: 01.61 set by Lionel Khoo in 2018.
Vietnam’s Bao Pham Thanh topped the final with his meet record of 1: 01.17, with Indonesian Gagarin Nathaniel (1: 02.74) as third.
In another final, debutant Ardi Zulhilmi Azman came in 16: 12.46 to finish sixth out of six swimmers in the men’s 1,500 m freestyle.
At the previous edition of the 2019 Games, Team Singapore won 23 golds in the Philippines, matching their best ever hit from 2015.