14-Year Old Goes Sub-23 in 50 Meter Free in Singapore

The U.S., the U.K., and Hungary aren’t the only countries who had big National Championship meets this week. Also running on a concurrent schedule was Singapore, and there were many quality results out of that meet, but one really impressive one.

14-year old Darren Lim swam a 22.73 in the prelims of the men’s 50 free (and a 22.87 in finals) to earn his World Championship qualifying consideration time.

That’s just .04 seconds off of a 31-year old National Record (for any age) set by Ang Peng Siong in 1982. Peng is the Singapore Swimming National Head Coach who swam at the University of Houston in the 80’s, and a winner at the 1982 US National Championships (open to international swimmers).

That record is Singapore’s oldest.

Lim’s sister Shana Lim swims at Arkansas. The biggest factor working against the younger Lim is the lack of a family reputation for great height that usually accompanies great sprinters: Shana is listed at only 5’3, though she’s had a great start to her collegiate career anyway.

Lim also placed 3rd in the 50 fly with a 25.41, 2nd in the 100 free in 51.25 (behind a new National Record from Kai Quan Yeo in 50.51), and was 6th in prelims of the 100 fly in 58.35. All of those swims were in long course meters.

USC swimmer Lynette Lim (no relation) won the 800 free in 8:53.74. That’s far off of her own National Record, but did break the Meet Record in the race.

Other big records that went down included Zheng Wen Quah who was a 56.60 in the final of the men’s 100 backstroke. He placed 2nd in that race behind Yan Jin of China (56.33).

And finally, perhaps Singapore’s most globally-famous swimmer, 2008 Olympic finalist Tao Li won the women’s 100 fly, her best event, in 59.07, just ahead of Ting Quah in 59.92. Li has bounced around to several different coaches since her impressive run in Beijing, but has been unable to recapture her success.

A full PDF of the final meet results can be found here.

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mike
10 years ago

In 15 years time he will be 30. Where will he do his swimming then in Singapore? Where are the masters teams? In the US a city smaller than SGP will have multiple masters teams, some with 5 workout opportunities a day. In SGP, pretty much nothing. You can’t even find a pool with a couple of lane lines in for a decent lap swim. SGP can claim to have arrived on the world swimming scene when it has teams for everybody, and 80 something’s still compete for PB’s. Competitive swimming is not just for kids.

Just Curious
10 years ago

How fast is Michael Andrew in the 50fr?

aswimfan
Reply to  Just Curious
10 years ago

Michael Andrew – 23.47

Kyle Clamers (Australia) – 23.18

Darren Lim (Singapore) – 22.73

aswimfan
Reply to  aswimfan
10 years ago

I meant Chalmers

KevinT
10 years ago

Even after reading some of the comments here I am still unsure. Is he 14 or is he 15? I am as confused as ever.

whoknows
Reply to  Braden Keith
10 years ago

His birthdate is Oct 12

aswimfan
Reply to  KevinT
10 years ago

He is 14.

He is listed as 15 in the singapore swimming results because SG swimming regards everyone as having 1 January birthday for competition purposes, although Darren Lim’s birthday is not until later this year when he will turn 15.

Jg
10 years ago

Hehe. Welcome to The Commonwealth of Nations . Hong Kong Singapore Australia NZ k& Canada rate 5/ top 6 nations for economic freedom according to The Heritage Foundation .

Business is booming.

aswimfan
Reply to  Jg
10 years ago

Just read the news today:
EU is having all time unemployment record, and the unemployment rate in Spain is 29%.
So if any of you in Barca, keep your valuable safe 🙂

JG
10 years ago

PsychoDad vs Tigermums.

PsychoDad
Reply to  JG
10 years ago

Yeah, I already know how to lose those fights. One of them is my wife.

10 years ago

Wow!Really impressive…how tall is Lim?

aswimfan
Reply to  DDias
10 years ago

He doesn’t seem to be exceptionally tall.

Last year he was listed as 173 cms.

PsychoDad
10 years ago

What club does he swim for? I only know of Chinese Swimming Club in Singapore.
I might be moving family there soon if some business deals get closed.

aswimfan
Reply to  PsychoDad
10 years ago

He is studying in Anglo-Chinese School but training in Swimfast Aquatic Club (under coach Gary Tan), the same club where Joseph Schooling also trained.

jel
Reply to  aswimfan
10 years ago

Gary Tan’s an amazing young coach. If I’m not wrong, both of Singapore’s top youngsters, Quah Zheng Wen and Darren Lim are under the tutelage of Gary.

Btw, to clarify Darren’s age. He turns 15 later this year, so he is still 14 now

Muck
10 years ago

Singapore swimming is apparently full of swimming families. Ting Quah, now based at UCLA, is Zheng Wen’s elder sister and also won the 50, 100 free and 200 fly at the same meet. Their youngest sibling, Quah Jing Wen is also a promising age-grouper.

Reply to  Muck
10 years ago

It’s a city-state with a population of just over 5M. No surprise that many of the athletes are related in some way.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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