SINGAPORE – The Republic’s swimmers wrapped up the second day of the Citi Para Swimming World Series Singapore with a silver medal and three new national records at the OCBC Aquatic Centre on Sunday.
Five-gold Paralympic champion Yip Pin Xiu won silver in the 50m backstroke multi-class final (S1-S5), while there were national marks by Colin Soon (100m breaststroke), Janelle Tong and Darren Chan (both 400m freestyle).
Yip clocked 1min 3.28sec and earned 884 points to finish behind Filipina Angel Otom (42sec, 994 points). Greece’s Alexandra Stamatopoulou (56.44sec, 696 points) was third.
In multi-class para swimming events, the athletes are ranked by points which are determined by their timings relative to the world record for their impairment classification.
Yip, who is the world-record holder (59.38) in the S2 50m backstroke, said: “My coach and I are pretty pleased with the timing today. In all the competitions we’ve done so far, there’s been a steady improvement in the timing. We’re heartened to see this progress in today’s timing too.”
The 31-year-old, who will be competing in the 100m backstroke on Monday, is building towards the Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester from July 31 to Aug 6.
“It’s been tiring,” added Yip, who made waves with a world record in the 200m free on Saturday, a day after being named The Straits Times Athlete of the Year 2022.
“It’s about being able to execute great performances, and hopefully my mental fortitude will not fail me. Hopefully my mental preparation and experience can help me maintain my performance for the three days and put out my best performance.”
Chan was overjoyed to finish second in the B final of the 400m free multi-class final (S6-S14) and 10th overall. His delight was doubled after realising that he had set the national record with his 4:56.66 effort.
“It felt really good, my coach and I were happy. I was really happy when I found out (that I broke the record),” he said.
The 19-year-old started the day strong with a new personal best in the 100m breaststroke heats with his 1:21.11 swim, although he did not qualify for the final. He will be competing in the 100m butterfly on Monday.
Buoyed by his showing, his coach Lionel Leong said they are eyeing gold at the June 3-9 Asean Para Games in Cambodia. Chan had won bronze medals in the men’s 50m butterfly and 100m free (both S14) in the 2022 edition in Indonesia last August.
Leong said: “Last time he competed, he got two bronzes. This year for Asean Para Games we’ll be looking to break that limit and we will be looking at gold.”
Chan is also hoping to represent Singapore in the Asian Para Games in October as he builds towards his goal of qualifying for the 2028 Paralympics.
Janelle, 16, set a national record in the women’s 400m freestyle multi-class final (S6-S14) in 6:28.28 to finish seventh out of eight swimmers.
Soon, 18, rewrote the national mark in the 100m breaststroke multi-class heats with his 1:13.17 effort.
The Singapore leg of the Citi Para Swimming World Series ends on Monday.
