SINGAPORE – Competing in only his third event of 2023, national sprinter Marc Louis raced to his season best of 10.44 seconds to clinch silver in the men’s 100m at the Singapore Open Track and Field Championships on Friday.
Louis, who had clocked 10.55sec and 10.52sec in January and February respectively, finished just 0.03sec behind Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu-sian at the National Stadium. Australia’s Leonard King was third in 10.67.
Despite his steady improvement in 2023, Louis – who set a national Under-20 record of 10.39sec in 2021 – believes he has yet to show his best as he heads into the May 5-17 SEA Games in Cambodia.
The 20-year-old, who had been battling minor injuries and contracted Covid-19 earlier this season, said: “I was here since morning (competing in the preliminaries and semi-finals) and I just felt a bit tired in the final.
“I went all out but tensed up and lost out in the end. But I know that I’m prepared for the SEA Games in the coming week.”
He will be aiming to better his showing at the Hanoi Games in 2022, when he clocked 10.56sec to clinch a bronze behind Thai duo Puripol Boonson (10.44sec) and Soraoat Dapbang (10.55sec). Louis has set his sights on catching them in Cambodia.
“I check their Instagrams now and then and see them running 10.1 and 10.2. I think at this stage I’m quite confident I am able to contest them for the gold medal, but my ultimate goal is to get the national record (10.37sec set by U.K. Shyam in 2001).
“It was quite a shock for me (to win bronze) last year and this time I don’t want to replicate it but rather better that,” Louis added.
Taiwanese Lin expressed surprise to win the event ahead of Louis.
The 21-year-old said: “It is only my first time competing outside my country in five years so I was nervous. I knew I was up against really good competitors like Marc and I feel very honoured to win today.”
In the women’s 100m, Shanti Pereira set a championship record of 11.43sec to breeze to gold by 0.2sec ahead of Chinese Taipei’s Hu Chia-chen in front of a rapturous home crowd.
It was Shanti’s third-fastest 100m time in her career and just 0.06sec off the national record of 11.37sec she set earlier in April at the Australian championships in Brisbane.
Shanti, who has one silver (2022) and three bronze medals (2015, 2017, 2019) in the SEA Games 100m, said: “I’m really happy that I got another chance to race and it was a really good rehearsal right before the SEA Games.”
“It’s great to race in Singapore and now everything is about fine-tuning, focusing on my recovery and mental state more than anything else because I already know where I am physically.”
The 26-year old, who also has two gold (2022, 2015) and two bronze medals (2017, 2019) in the 200m, will be eyeing a golden double in Cambodia.
In the women’s 4x100m relay race, she teamed up with Elizabeth Tan, Roxanne Enriquez and Kerstin Ong to finish second in 45.82sec, 0.12sec behind Malaysia. The men’s 4x100m quartet, which includes Louis, pulled out of the final as a precaution to conserve their energy ahead of the Games.
Earlier, Tan earned a bronze in the 100m with her personal best of 11.91sec, which eclipses her previous best of 11.95sec set at the Australian championships in March.
The 19-year-old, who will be making her SEA Games 100m debut in Cambodia, said: “Being able to break my personal best shows that I’m on form and I’m excited to race at the SEA Games.
“It will be my first time competing in the individual event so I just want to be relaxed and hopefully not tense up during the race.”
