SINGAPORE - Lucas Ng was unable to add another personal best (PB) in the 1,000m race on Sunday at the International Skating Union (ISU) World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Seoul.

His 1,000m time of 1min 33.174sec was off his PB of 1:31.08, and placed him 44th in a field of 50 skaters.

Ng had set a new PB in his pet event, the 500m, on Saturday. He broke the 44-sec barrier for the first time to clock 43.972sec, rewriting his previous best of 44.57. He was ranked 24th out of 50 sprinters, which also beat his previous best finish of 33rd in a field of 40 in the same event in last year's edition of the competition.

National coach Chun Lee Kyung was pleased with Ng's overall performance at the Singaporean's fifth World Championships. Ng was one of only two South-east Asian skaters to participate in the annual meet.

Chun noted Ng's improved showing in Seoul, where the skater had arrived more than two weeks before the start of the competition to train.

The South Korean said on Sunday: "The World Championships was an excellent opportunity for Lucas to up his game in the lead up to SEA Games 2017. I am happy that he achieved yet another personal best time."

Under the tutelage of Chun, a former Olympic and world champion who came on board as the national coach only in November, Ng has already set four PBs, including all his individual events in the 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m.

The 27-year-old returns to Singapore on Monday and his next event will be the ISU Asian Trophy 2016 to be held in Malaysia in September.

Sonja Chong, president of the Singapore Ice Skating Association, feels that Ng's improvements have been an encouragement for the national team.

She said on Sunday: "Lucas has been consistently achieving new personal bests. The Singapore team are very encouraged by his achievements at the international level and we will be working closely with coach Chun to further strengthen our training programmes and help our athletes realise their full potential."