AT THE halfway stage, Singapore's bench started inching towards the edge of their seats.

By the three-quarter mark, Asian Youth Games head coach David Lim and the rest of Singapore's swimming contingent were on their feet - cheering what was about to be a very auspicious start to the swimming competition.

With two laps of the 400 metres freestyle left, Lynette Lim was four body lengths ahead of her nearest rival.

She continued to extend that lead, eventually finishing in 4min 14.25sec on Thursday for gold in the first of 32 swimming finals at the AYG.

Lynette's time was more than seven seconds ahead of silver medallist Benjaporn Sriphanomthorn of Thailand.

It also bettered the national record of 4:16.42 she set last year.

'I was really, really nervous just before the start,' said the California-based Lynette, who swims up to 15km every day.

As the victory started to sink in half an hour after the race at the Singapore Sports School, she grinned non-stop as friends walking past shouted out their congratulations.

The shy 17-year-old, who was born in the United States, said: 'This is a stunning result, I wasn't expecting a medal.

'My focus was on the World Championships later this month in Rome.'

Even more impressive, the 1.64m, 56kg Lynette is considered relatively short for a distance swimmer.

Said coach David: 'Lynette makes up for her lack of height with very good consistency during races. She can hold her pace for a long period owing to her endurance.'

Hopes of a gold were raised after Thursday's morning's heats, with her 4:18.23 over eight seconds faster than closest rival Stephanie Au of Hong Kong.

'But I think everyone was holding back then, so I didn't want to be too confident,' said Lynette, who studies at Rancho Mirage's Palm Springs High School.

In the evening's final, her confidence surged at the 300m mark.

Her split time then was 3:11.59, five seconds ahead of Stephanie, who was overtaken later by Benjaporn.

'The strategy was to start smooth in the first 50m, and then descend in the last five 50s,' said Lynette.

That meant starting slowly and then making a late surge in the final 250m, something that caught fellow Beijing Olympian Stephanie by surprise.

'I tried to stick with her for the first 200m, but she was so fast after that,' said Stephanie.

She had been one of the pre-AYG favourites, her Hong Kong national record of 4:14.82 the fastest seed time for the 400m freestyle.

But, due to exams, the 17-year-old has been training just once daily for the past few weeks instead of the usual two sessions.

Still, the petite swimmer's lack of form did not take the shine off Lynette's victory. Her winning time was half a second quicker than Stephanie's personal best.

Lynette's parents, Gerald and Chit Neo, who also flew back to Singapore, were in the stands cheering and could not stop beaming.

The couple moved to California in 1989, and have another daughter, Elaine, 18.

Today, Lynette and teammate Quah Ting Wen will be gunning for more glory in the 200m freestyle.

'I get nervous when friends and family watch me. I'm just aiming for a personal best,' said Lynette, flashing a cheeky grin that masked an obvious desire to slink away from the limelight.

With a bronze tonight a distinct possibility based on her seed time, the attention is set to continue for awhile yet.

limze@sph.com.sg