Quah Ting Wen Becomes First Singaporean Sub-55 100 Freestyler

50TH SINGAPORE NATIONAL AGE GROUP SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS (SNAGS)

We already saw two Singaporean National Age Records fall on day 1 of the National Age Group Swimming Championships (SNAGs), but tonight a Senior National Record bit the dust.

Claiming the top seed of the morning in the women’s 100m freestyle, Quah Ting Wen lowered her own NR of 55.41 to a new sub-55 second milestone of 54.98. That means Quah is the first Singaporean female to ever delve under the 55-second barrier in the event.

But, the 26-year-old former Cal swimmer had more in store for the final, where Quah nailed an even faster national standard of 54.82. Her outing collected the gold here at the OCBC Aquatic Centre by over half a second and the time places Quah just inside the top 25 performers in the world this season.

Olympic champion Joseph Schooling was in the water for the men, taking the 100m freestyle event in a time of 49.35.  That’s the former Texas Longhorn’s fastest of the season and represented 1 of 2 swimmers in the final to dip under 50 seconds. Runner-up in the 18&O grouping was AquaTech 19-year-old Darren Chua, who touched in 49.80.

However, 17-year-old Jonathan Tan nailed the 2nd fastest time behind Schooling, registering a mark of 49.73. He finished top of the 15-17 category. Of note, just for perspective, Tan’s time would render the teen 17th on USA’s all-time performers’ list for 17-18 100m freestyle, per USA Swimming’s database.

Chua would go on to take the gold later in the same session, reaping the top time in the men’s 200m IM with a podium-topping 2:04.01.

Additional Winners:

  • The women’s 200m IM saw a swimmer from the 15-17 age category actually nail the fastest time, as Japan’s Hinata Yamashita  won her age group in a time of 2:17.80. The top time of the 18&O women was another visiting Japanese athlete in Kei Yamaoka, who touched in 2:23.68.
  • Japan’s Wato Shiota was the 200m back winner fro the men’s 15-17 category in a time of 2:04.45, also beating the 18&O winner WeiYang Low who took gold in that category in 2:08.01.
  • The women’s 200m back saw Yumi Shuno of the 18&O category clock the fastest overall time in 2:15.19.

In This Story

5
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

5 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Paul
4 years ago

Daren Chua was 49.66 and Jonathon Tan 49.88 in the heats

Paul
4 years ago

Another Singaporean was under 50. In fact Jonathon Tan when 49.73 to break the Under 17 100m record. Another woman under 14 200IM record was also broken by Ashley Lim in 2:19.26

Daniel Tan
4 years ago

Hi Loretta, Jonathan Tan was second in the 100m Freestyle with a time of 49.73s and Darren Chua was third in 49.80s.

tmswim
4 years ago

Former UCLA swimmer

About Retta Race

Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

Read More »