SINGAPORE – The 2023 season has only just begun for sprinter Shanti Pereira, but already the 26-year-old has made history by becoming the first Singaporean to top World Athletics’ women’s 100m outdoor rankings in Asia.
Her national record of 11.46 seconds in the 100m heats at the New Zealand Track and Field Championships on March 3 is currently the quickest time by an Asian woman, and the world’s 23rd best time in 2023.
While Pereira, who is currently training in Australia, noted that it is still early in the season, she told The Straits Times: “It was quite a surprise to me (to be No. 1 in Asia). It’s not a definite indicator of my standing as many athletes have yet to compete – they are just finishing their winter season. But I’m just really elated to achieve something like this.
“Heading into the SEA Games and Asian Games later this year, I’m just hoping for good times in all my events and more importantly to stay happy and healthy through it all.”
With a busy year ahead, Pereira is in blistering form with a national mark in her first race of the season in Wellington, where she finished third in the final. Her time of 11.46 seconds in the heats was enough to pip Japan’s Arisa Kimishima to top spot on the World Athletics’ rankings for Asia.
Kimishima, a likely rival at the Hangzhou Asian Games later in 2023, clocked 11.48sec at the Sydney Track Classic open 100m final a week after the New Zealand event, with Pereira equalling her record in the B race in Sydney.
Filipina Kayla Richardson, who won 100m gold at the 2015 and 2021 SEA Games, is fifth in the World Athletics leaderboard after clocking 11.78sec in a California meet on March 11.
Pereira’s coach Luis Cunha said on Wednesday: “It’s always good to achieve these kinds of ranking positions, but we are still at the beginning of a very long season. Rankings or medals represent a performance certificate of quality, but depends also on others. The focus should be on what we can control.
“When an athlete performs a personal best we can consider it a good moment, but the athlete’s best moments should be achieved in major competitions. Shanti’s best moments last season were obtained in major competitions and the goal for the current season is the same.”
Aside from claiming top spot in the region after her landmark run, Pereira also cracked the 1,100-point barrier in World Athletics’ scoring system, a record achieved only once by multiple SEA Games champion thrower Zhang Guirong at the 2005 Asian Championships. She had then set a national shot put record of 18.57m.
Pereira added: “It’s a huge milestone for me. I never thought I would touch that zone, but here we are today.”
Singapore Athletics (SA) said in a statement that Pereira’s score “indicates that even among our national records, this is one of the best-ever performances”.
The national sports association also noted that Pereira being awarded the Sport Excellence (Spex) Scholarship – which provides financial support to prepare athletes to excel at major Games – in 2022 was a boost as it allowed her to focus full time on training.
“SA has also extended support to Shanti and other deserving athletes via our overseas competition and training camp grant programme, providing additional assistance for the athletes in their preparations for major games,” said the association.
“Shanti is at a peak age for a sprinter, and we hope that she continues racing for a long time. We hope that her performances inspire a new generation of young sprinters who will take the sport forward.”
Pereira is just itching to get to the big meets in 2023. She added: “It’s a big, big year and I’m really just excited that I’m on this journey headed towards these major competitions. I’m feeling really good.”
