Kerstin Ong breaks national record, Shanti Pereira pulls up at Singapore Open track & field c’ships

SINGAPORE – In pursuit of faster times, national hurdler Kerstin Ong has made financial sacrifices, with her decision to become a full-time athlete being an example.

Despite that, she had no qualms paying for three of her rivals’ accommodation here so that she could race against stronger opposition at the Singapore Open Track and Field Championships. It paid off as she bettered her national record on April 15.

Clocking 13.81 seconds in the women’s 100m hurdles final at the National Stadium, the 28-year-old eclipsed her previous mark of 13.86sec set in Malaysia last August.

The Singaporean finished second in her home race, while Hong Kong’s Lau Tsz Yan won gold in 13.71sec and compatriot Ivy Liu (14.37sec) finished third.

Ong later revealed to The Straits Times that she had invited Lau, Liu and another Hong Konger Kate Lo, who finished sixth in 14.88, to Singapore and volunteered to pay for their accommodation here – which cost her around $700 – so that she could compete against them.

“This is my first time breaking the national record on home ground, and what’s crazy is that I paid for some of my competitors’ hotel stay so that they could come to Singapore to give me that extra push,” said Ong, who quit her corporate job in 2025 to become a full-time athlete.

“I’ve been competing with them in Hong Kong recently and I am very happy to have them here to give me that push. I knew that is what I really needed.

“Even if I came in second, I did better than my previous timing and that’s all that really matters. You constantly want to be able to run with people better than you.”

“And because of that, it really reminds you of how much more you have to work on yourself. And that’s why I keep going overseas as well, to compete with and train with people better than me,” she added.

“I know that I’ve only got a few more years left, because age will catch up and I can’t run forever, and I know I’m in my prime and my peak now. So I want to do all I can.”

Ong’s latest record has also motivated her to improve her times further as she seeks to represent the country at the Sept 19-Oct 4 Asian Games in Japan. The Asiad qualifying mark is 13.35sec.

Ong said: “The aim is to continue to bring my record down further and pray that SNOC (Singapore National Olympic Council) will send me. I have had a huge amount of improvement in the last couple of years, and I’ve been bringing the times down. I really hope that it allows them to send me to the Asian Games.”

Meanwhile, Singapore’s sprint queen Shanti Pereira suffered an injury scare in the women’s 100m final, the evening’s final event.

She pulled up just after the start of the race and jogged to the finish line, ending the race behind all seven other competitors. Vietnam’s Phung Thi Hue won gold in 11.77sec, Singapore’s Elizabeth-Ann Tan was second (11.89sec) while another Vietnamese, Hoang Du Y, was third (11.96sec).

A Singapore Athletics official said it will provide an update on Pereira’s injury when more information is available. Pereira did not comment on the severity of the injury as she walked gingerly past the mixed zone.

This was the SEA Games 100m and 200m champion’s first race of the 2026 season, with the 29-year-old also scheduled to compete in the women’s 200m and 400m on April 16 and 17 respectively.

Earlier in the day, she had clocked 11.49sec in the heats to qualify for the final as the quickest sprinter.

Her main competitions for 2026 will be the July 23-Aug 2 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Asian Games, where Pereira will be looking to retain her 200m gold and improve on her 100m silver from the last edition in Hangzhou in 2023.

There was also a national record in javelin, with Lucas Wong eclipsing an almost six-year-old mark.

The 21-year-old’s 64.01m effort saw him smash the 61.07m mark set in November 2020 by Justyn Phoa. Wu Ping-shen of Chinese Taipei was first (68.74m), with Myanmar’s Chit Min Aung (63.22m) third.

Wong, a first-year civil engineering student at the National University of Singapore, said that breaking the record had always been on his mind, even though executing his technique as perfectly as possible was the main goal.

Wong, who also holds the national Under-20 javelin record, credited his coach Chen Jinlong, who has been working with him since 2018, saying: “This record means a lot and it’s an accumulation of the efforts of my coach and me.

“He really sacrificed a lot and invested a lot in me. And I think the record is just something that represents all the hard work.”

He said his main goal is to make his SEA Games debut in Malaysia in 2027.

The bronze medal mark at the last Games – which is used as a qualifying standard – was 69.62m by Thailand’s Wachirawit Sornwichai.

In other events, Marc Louis finished second in the men’s 100m in 10.48sec, behind Taiwanese sprinter Chen Wen-pu (10.26), with his compatriot Lai Po-hsiang (10.50) third.

In the men’s 110m hurdles, Ang Chen Xiang was second (13.85sec) with Malaysia’s Mohamad Armin Zahryl winning gold in 13.82 and the Philippines’ Clinton Bautista (14.22) taking bronze.

Singapore’s Jade Chew won the women’s high jump with a 1.65m leap while Thailand’s Eakkarin Boonlap rewrote a championship record in the men’s shot put with his gold-medal winning effort of 17.88m, eclipsing the previous mark of 17.78m set by China’s Liu Yu in 2006.