KUALA LUMPUR • Her start was not as smooth as she wanted but Nur Izlyn Zaini still walked away with a historic medal - and her name etched in the record books as the joint holder of the national women's 100m hurdles.
The 19-year-old became the first Singapore woman to win a medal in the discipline at the Games since 1979, when she clocked 14.14 seconds to clinch the bronze on yesterday. Athletics great Heather Merican's final Games medal was a bronze in this event 38 years ago.
Izlyn's time also equalled the national record set by Jannah Wong at the 2014 Asian Junior meet.
She told The Straits Times at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium: "I didn't expect a medal but I was expecting to hit 14.2 because I was hoping to better my previous personal best (14.44).
"I didn't know it was that long (since the last medal in the event) but wow I am very happy. I want to thank my competitors for the great push during the competition."
She revealed that she had not been aiming to break the national record this time round, saying that that was the target for "the next season which is next year".
She also admitted that her race more or less went to plan but "I did screw up a little at the start, but overall everything was good".
Izlyn had been part of the women's 4x100m quartet that became the first Singapore team to go below 45sec on Friday.
Nicole Chia
