Gan Ching Hwee lowers 400m IM national record for the second time in two months

SINGAPORE – Juggling both training and competition this week, national swimmer Gan Ching Hwee was not expecting much in the women’s 400m individual medley final of the Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships at the OCBC Aquatic Centre on March 20.

While she had broken the national record at the same venue just a month ago, she did not think she would do so again, as she had posted only 5min 3.87sec to finish third behind Japanese swimmers Haruka Kishigami and Ren Taniguchi in the morning’s preliminaries.

Those who were watching the evening’s final probably had the same thoughts, as the 22-year-old trailed the Japanese top seeds early in the race.

But, having overtaken Taniguchi at the halfway stage, Gan kept gaining on Kishigami before finally overtaking her in the last lap of the freestyle leg to touch home first in 4:46.06.

In the process, she lopped 1.54sec off her national mark registered during the Singapore Swim Series on Feb 8.

Kishigami finished second in 4:47.61, with Taniguchi (4:50.13) third.

Gan was pleasantly surprised by her feat, as she and her coach had not placed heavy emphasis on the medleys for this meet.

She added: “Actually this week, I had a training set to do in the morning before the heats.

“This is just a training block, so there were no big expectations, but my coach was like, ‘Oh, you’re trending very well this meet, even though you’re coming in tired’.

“If anything, I learnt that I have to believe more in myself because it seems like my coach is believing more in my abilities than I am.”

Her coach Eugene Chia hailed Gan’s competitive spirit.

“While she may not necessarily say it, she is a person who does not like to lose,” he said.

“She knows with the Japanese swimmers she will have good competition, she knows there will be that push to help her swim well and I think she embraced it very much. That’s why we had the national record today, again.”

Next up for Gan, who also holds national records in the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1,500m freestyle, is the 800m on March 22.

Chia said: “All I ask for is a 10 out of 10 effort. We are still in a training block, so just hoping that she’ll do her absolute best in that event and execute the race well.

“I think we are all looking at race execution at this point, watching her swim well carrying fatigue with this whole week and just no expectations in terms of records.”

Following this meet, Gan will take part in the Australian Open in April, followed by the Singapore National Swimming Championships in May.

Then comes her major competitions tilts – the July 23-Aug 2 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Sept 19-Oct 4 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya.

Her ability to deliver despite the fatigue augurs well for her main goal – to win a medal at the Asiad, having finished fourth in both the 800m and 1,500m free in Hangzhou in 2023.

Chia said: “The aim is still no different, we’re still looking to do our best and challenge for medals at the Asian Games. That remains our full focus for this year.”