Armed with new confidence, ‘bird with broken wing’ Teong Tzen Wei soars again

SINGAPORE – A lengthy injury spell left Teong Tzen Wei in a depressed state of mind, but now the butterfly swim star is ready to take flight again.

It had been a gloomy year for the 27-year-old as

his hopes of qualifying for the Paris Olympics were dashed

after tearing his left elbow ligament during training in March, a recurrence of the injury he suffered in December 2022.

However, missing the quadrennial Games did not hurt as much as the physical and mental strain from sitting on the sidelines for six months, as the Singaporean told The Straits Times: “Being injured is the worst. It’s like a bird with a broken wing, it’s depressing.

“Things in life happen, they come and don’t come, so I was more okay with not making the Olympics, but getting injured was very hard to take.

“The toughest thing was keeping my mind straight. Thankfully, people around me kept me in check to help me stay as positive and consistent as I can.”

Now, he is reaping the rewards of his persistence during the enforced break as the short-course season comes around.

At the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Singapore, the 27-year-old led at the halfway mark of the 100m butterfly to claim bronze behind Switzerland’s Noe Ponti (48.60 seconds) and Dutchman Nyls Korstanje (49.12sec), while lowering his own national record to 49.37sec on Oct 31.

Two days later, he earned a 50m butterfly bronze in 22.11sec behind Ponti (21.64sec) and Korstanje (21.74sec). In the morning heats, his time of 21.98sec, a new national mark, was just 0.02sec off China’s Sun Jiajun’s Asian record.

“It was fun, I got to race against the best if I want to be the best. It feels great to be flying again and I want to stay consistent so I can keep this up,” said Teong, who will now look forward to the Dec 10-15 short-course world championships in Budapest.

“This (two World Cup podium finishes) is good for getting my confidence and mojo back. Hopefully I can make two finals (in Budapest).”

National swimming coach Gary Tan credited the team effort, including physiotherapist Dexter Kin and strength and conditioning coach Carl de Vries from Athletic Inc gym, in bringing Teong “back to where he needed to be in terms of his physical ability to even just train”.

He said: “When you have injuries and issues, you tend to think about negative things. But dwelling on these holds you back and the good thing about Teong now is, he keeps moving forward.

“Our National Training Centre coaches Gustavo Schirru and Alex Mordvincev have also been real with him. Gus tells him where he is now, he is not where he was three years ago, so let’s try to work forward from there.

“Every year we start from zero... that’s a good, realistic view, and that’s how he started to move forward.”

While Teong could not use his arms in the pool during the injury break, the coaches worked on his kicks. And when he could start working with his arms, they improvised by getting the swimmer to wear mittens to strengthen the muscles in his wrists and get back his feel for the water with various drills.

Tan said: “We just kept working on elements which he was in deficit. There’s never a standstill moment.”

With the Los Angeles Olympics still four years away, Teong’s shorter-term targets are December’s world meet and the long-course world championships next July in Singapore before the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand and 2026 Asian Games in Japan.

The Budapest meet represents an opportunity for Teong to become the first Singaporean to win a short-course world championship medal, after he finished fourth in the 50m butterfly in Melbourne in 2022.

Tan is also looking to Teong to be one of the leaders for the up-and-coming swimmers, several of whom had done well at the World Cup.

“It’s a fine balance to take care of people and compete as well, but we have a relatively young squad and need people to step up as leaders, and (Teong) is not one to shy away from leadership,” he said.

At the final World Cup stop in Singapore, the hosts’ swimmers made 12 finals with Teong meeting the short-course world championships A cut in the 50m and 100m butterfly alongside 23-year-old Nicholle Toh (women’s 200m butterfly), while five other swimmers met the B cut.

Tan said: “It’s good to see some of the younger kids make the finals. We are still finalising the roster for the world championships, but we are definitely trying to make some semi-finals and finals, and it’s an opportunity for Teong to do something good.”