2025 Athlete of the Year nominee: Yip Pin Xiu

Q: If 2025 were a chapter in a book about your life, what would its title be and why?

A: It was a very fresh year and it would be called The Year I Got Hitched. I did the world championships and one week later I got married and then went on my honeymoon immediately. No time to waste!

Q: When you were at your best in 2025, what was different, compared to all your years as a competitive swimmer?

A: I think it’s about finding the joy in the things that I do again. For (Winter Olympics gold medallist) figure skater Alysa Liu, her mentality is very unique and very uncommon and it may not work for everybody, but it was different that it worked for her.

Growing up, you put training as the priority and training surrounds your whole life. As you grow older, it’s different, but you need to have that original mindset of being able to do that before you move into a later stage of balancing everything.

When I was younger, whenever somebody asked me to go out after school, I would say ‘cannot, I have training’, but for (Liu), if somebody asked her to go out and watch a movie, she’ll go out and even if she stays out late, the next day she just goes to training.

For us, we often feel quite guilty if we do this, so I think last year for me was about being able to find the joy (of that balance) again.

Q: Was there a moment last year when you realised you were at a level you’d never seen before?

A: Probably after I got married. A lot of people told me, ‘get married already, not much difference’, But honestly, I think there were quite a lot of differences.

One of them was just in general... when you’re dating somebody, you kind of plan your life together. But now you have somebody that you are accountable for, it’s like level one compared to level 10.

You plan with this one person for that common goal. In sports, I’ve always had a team, I’ve always had that common goal. But marriage and life goals just feel different, they feel all-encompassing and I’ve levelled up in that sense.

In sport, you can change a team, but this ‘team’ cannot change already.

Q: Was there anything you had to let go of – a habit, a belief, a way of thinking – to get to the level you did in 2025?

A: I learnt to let go of doing things the same way, taking control over things such as training. Sometimes you just let it flow, and you trust the process. But the question is, how long do you trust the process for?

It’s very difficult, because how do you know whose method is the best? So I think there needs to be a lot of introspection and proper communication.

Q: Did the pressure shift once you realised you weren’t just chasing something but setting a new standard?

A: The pressure shifted after the first medal (at the world para championships, a silver). It is what it is, so why not try to make the best out of it?

It was also the last chance for Singaporeans who came to support to feel what I want people to feel.

I had two chances (to deliver), and I thought that, ‘okay, maybe I’ll get two (golds)’. But after I didn’t get the first one, and I felt that everybody had a certain heaviness in them, perhaps they were holding space for me, but the next one felt like it was the last chance to let people feel the kind of joy that sports can bring them.

Q: What is one thing you are proud of yourself for doing in 2025?

A: I’m proud of myself for doing what I have to do, for doing everything I need to do well, like, racing and planning a wedding, and then after that really enjoying it all.

There’s a time and place for everything, and I am glad that I didn’t let one thing take over the other.