At the Paris Paralympics, Yip Pin Xiu of Singapore achieved a first-ever three-peat by winning the women’s 100-metre backstroke S2 final. With a performance time of 2:21.73 at the La Defense Arena, the reigning champion secured Singapore’s first medal of the Paris Games.
She finished just in front of the silver-medallist Haidee Aceves of Mexico, who achieved a record of 2:21.79, and the bronze-medallist Angela Procida of Italy with a time of 2:24.48.
At the 2016 and 2020 Paralympics, Yip, 32, took home the gold in this event as well. Currently holding the world record for both the event and the 50m backstroke S2, she is Singapore’s most decorated Paralympian.
Three para swimmers from Team Singapore have qualified for the current Games, including the six-time Paralympic gold champion. Towards the end of the meet, Toh Wei Soong and Sophie Soon will also compete for their home country.
Yip will next swim on Saturday in the S2 heats of the 50-metre backstroke.
Poppy Maskill of Great Britain won the S14 100m backstroke, earning her third gold medal at the Paralympics in Paris. The athlete also won two silvers at the Games.
She fell behind Valeriia Shabalina at the halfway point of the 100m backstroke, but she recovered to win in 1 minute, 5.74 seconds, defeating fellow Brit Olivia Newman-Baronius, who won third place.
Maskill’s triumph brought Great Britain’s Paralympic gold medals tally to 41 in Paris, matching the team’s accomplishment in Tokyo three years ago.
After her victory, Maskill said: “I was a little bit annoyed because it was not a personal best but it was still a gold so I can’t be too annoyed…I’m obviously happy with my medals as they are a great achievement but I’m slightly disappointed in my time because I know I can be better.”
Athlete with most medals
Maskill is the Paris Paralympic Games’ most decorated athlete from Great Britain athlete with five medals. She won first place in the mixed 4×100-metre S14 freestyle relay and the 100-metre S14 butterfly before taking home another gold.
Moreover, in the 200-metre individual medley and 200-meter freestyle S14 competitions, Maskill won silver. The athlete admitted: “I would have thought it would be Alice [Tai] or someone else. It feels great.”
SINGAPORE: There are only a few weeks till the Hangzhou Asian Games, to be held from Sept 23 to Oct 8, and excitement is in the air over the Singaporean athletes competing this year. Here is Singapore’s Asian Games 2023 complete team list.
The Singapore National Olympic Council announced last weekend that this year’s 431-strong contingent across 32 sports is the largest so far and unveiled that Mr Jowen Lim (Wushu) and Ms Amita Berthier (Fencing) are to be the flagbearers at this year’s Games.
Ms Berthier will also double up as the pledge taker.
The team includes former badminton world champion Loh Kean Yew and his older brother, Loh Kean Hean, as well as Sprint Queen Shanti Pereira, who has been having an amazing year.
Dr Koh Koon Teck, Chef de Mission for Team Singapore, said, “The athletes have their targets set and will be working closely with their performance team to meet them. I am confident that if they continue to train well and keep their focus, they will be able to perform to the best of their ability in Hangzhou.
“This year, we have also seen impressive performances from our athletes at the Cambodia 2023 SEA Games as well as at other competitions, and I hope Singaporeans can join us in encouraging them to continue to put their best form forward for Singapore.”
This year’s games had been scheduled for last year but were postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
There will be 483 events in 40 sports at the Asian Games.
Here is the full list of athletes on Team Singapore
Singapore sprint queen Shanti Pereira successfully defended her title and broke both the national and the games record as she took the gold in the women’s 200m event at the 32nd SEA Games with a timing of 22.69s at the Morodok Techo National Stadium on May 8.
In the 2021 SEA Games in Vietnam, Pereira won the gold medal with a time of 22.53s, which was then a national record too. This is Pereira’s third medal in the 200m sprint event as she also won a gold medal in the 2015 SEA Games. The games record was previously set by Philippines’ Kristina Knott in 2019 with a time of 23.01. That year Pereira won the bronze medal, sprinting to a time of 23.77s.
SEA Games 2023 – Women’s 200m Results
Meanwhile, Soh Rui Yong, a marathon gold medallist from the 2015 and 2017 SEA Games, was not too disappointing against the younger competitors in the 5,000m event on May 8. He managed to pace himself in the race and was among the group expected to finish on the podium. But towards the end of the race, Kieran Tuntivate of the Philippines picked up speed and left Soh and the rest of the pack behind to win the gold medal with a time of 14:34.77s. This is Tuntivate’s second medal of the 5,000m event as he won gold in the 2019 SEA Games – 14:31.15. Soh ended the race in fourth place with a time of 14:48.43, while the other Singapore competitor in this event, Jeevanesh, finished in 15th position 15:51.63.
Singapore won two bronze medals in the track and field competition courtesy of Goh Chui Ling in the women’s 1,500 race and Michelle Sng in the high jump competition.
This is Goh’s second bronze medal in the race. She had also won bronze in the previous SEA Games. Defending champion Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Oanh was unmatched by the rest of the competitors as she left them miles ahead to win the gold (04:16.85), while compatriot Bui Thị Ngan took the silver medal (04:24.57). Goh came third with a time of 04:26.33. For Sng, she is back at the podium after her historic gold medal performance at the 2017 SEA Games. Sng jumped a season’s best of 1.73m to clinch the bronze medal.
Photo credit: SNOC (Eng Chin An) and Singapore Athletics
Singapore won one gold, three silvers and seven bronze medals at the last SEA Games. In addition, five national records and eight personal best timings were recorded in Vietnam. When Singapore hosted the SEA Games in 2015, Singapore won three golds, three silvers and three bronze medals in athletics. The three gold medals came from Soh in the marathon, Shanti in the 200m sprint, and Zhang Guirong in shot put.
This year, Singapore Athletics are sending a total of 31 track and field athletes to Cambodia and the association’s president Lien Choon Luen hopes that the nation will be able to give their moral support to the athletes as they pursue glory at the SEA Games.
“We would also like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to the coaches, trainers, and support staff who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to help our athletes achieve their goals. Their efforts are invaluable and have contributed greatly to the success of our athletes. We are confident that our athletes will continue to make Singapore proud in the SEA Games 2023, and we wish them all the best in their upcoming competitions. We encourage all Singaporeans to rally behind our team and show their support by cheering them on as they compete on the regional stage. Together, let us celebrate the hard work and achievements of our athletes and inspire the next generation of young Singaporeans to pursue their dreams,” said Lien, Singapore Athletics president.
Photo credit: Singapore Athletics
Olympic champion Alex Yee finished third in the men’s triathlon World Championship
In the men’s triathlon World Championship Finals in Torremolinos, Spain, British Olympic champion Alex Yee achieved his first world title with a performance that placed him in third place.
Yee won gold at this year’s Paris Olympics, and he finished the triathlon with a time of 01:43:50, over a minute behind the winner Hayden Wilde of New Zealand with a time of 01:42:22, who won silver at the Olympics. Leo Bergere from France, the 2022 world champion, placed second with a time of 01:43:24.
Highlights of the race
Having won three times at the Olympic distance before the event, Yee needed to place in the top six to secure a world championship.
The athlete was trailing the lead by 21 seconds going into the first transition but dropped further behind when a breakaway group pulled away in the early going of the bike segment. Despite this, he managed to stay in contact with the leading pack and maintain his advantage.
Moreover, in the 10km run, Yee showed his capabilities by passing over a throng of runners to secure his title. He said: “This has evaded me for the last three years and makes it even sweeter… It is probably something that has haunted me day in and day out and I wanted to put on a show and a smile on peoples’ faces and I’m World Champion. There’s always going to be pressure in these races… but pressure makes diamonds.”
A few days after getting the all-clear to compete in Paris, Singaporean swimmer Quah Ting Wen was unexpectedly left out of her city’s Olympic delegation.
The 31-year-old had to withdraw from the women’s 4×100-metre medley relay because of squad size constraints, even though she was a crucial team member that achieved Singapore’s first-ever qualification.
Quah Ting Wen’s withdrawal from the Paris Olympics reverses the circumstances that led to her being granted a seat in the Tokyo Games three years ago. Gan Ching Hwee has been given her spot instead, and she will compete in the 800 and 1,500-metre freestyle events.
Quah was about to compete in her fourth Olympics, but the qualification regulations forced Singapore Aquatics (SAQ) to restrict the number of competitors they could send to the French capital, which devastated Quah’s dreams.
She stated, “Though the same team will probably not compete in Paris, I was one of the four that helped Singapore qualify for the Olympics with its first relay team.”
The Olympic qualifying obstacles for Singapore swimming
Quah met the Olympic qualifying standards for the 4×100-metre medley relay at the world championships in February, along with her sister Jing Wen and her national colleagues Letitia Sim and Levenia Sim.
Letitia Sim qualified for the Olympics by meeting the ‘A’ level, and Jonathan Tan earned his spot to compete in the 50- and 100-metre freestyle events. Gan obtained an invitation to compete after meeting the “B” standard. Rules about Olympic qualification prevented the city’s governing authority from requesting that World Aquatics include six women in the squad.
SAQ President Mark Chay stated; “We argued to World Aquatics that Singapore could send its finest swimmers to the Olympics if we sent the relay team that met the qualifying position for the Olympics, in addition to the two OQT swimmers and the OCT swimmer”.
