SEA Games 2025: Singapore Athletics chief ‘greedy for more’ in 2027

BANGKOK – Etched on the walls of Supachalasai National Stadium are the names of the region’s finest athletes.

Home to the 1966, 1970 and 1978 Asian Games, the stadium and its honour roll could soon make room for the track and field stars from the 2025 SEA Games.

Among those who shone in the venue during the Dec 11-16 competition were Vietnam’s middle-distance runner Nguyen Thi Oanh – who won her 13th, 14th and 15th golds to become the Games’ most successful track-only athlete – and Shanti Pereira, who made history for Singapore by clinching a rare 100m-200m double at consecutive Games.

Pereira’s two golds were not the only history-making feat for Team Singapore in Bangkok, with Calvin Quek clinching the 400m hurdles title to end a 60-year gold medal drought in the event.

Singapore athletics’ largest-ever away contingent of 39 – among them 23 debutants – won a total of three golds, three silvers and three bronzes.

Expressing pride in his team, Singapore Athletics (SA) president Lien Choong Luen has already set his sights on an even stronger performance at the 2027 Games, noting that the fraternity is hungry for more.

He told The Straits Times: “I’m very proud but, on their (athletes’) behalf, I am greedy for more.”

“The stalwarts have continued to deliver, which is great, because continued performance is very, very challenging, given that the standards are improving. We’re all very happy with the number of records broken and the medals.

“People will always look at the overall medal haul at the end of the meet. But, if you look at the progress in each event, that’s more important and valuable.”

Aside from the medal haul, the athletes also delivered three national records and ended several longstanding droughts.

In 2023, a 30-strong contingent won three gold, two silver and five bronze medals. A year earlier in Hanoi, the team picked up 11 medals (1-3-7).

Marc Louis finished second in the men’s 200m for Singapore’s first medal in the event since Hamkah Afik’s silver at the 1993 Games, Kampton Kam earned a silver in the men’s high jump for Singapore’s first in 30 years, while Ang Chen Xiang bagged a silver in the men’s 110m hurdles.

Looking ahead to a busy 2026, Lien said: “Next year is going to be a big year. We’ve got the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games.

“So even as we are in the midst of the SEA Games, we spoke to the athletes and said, ‘Take a break after this.’ But come January, we will meet you and we will regroup to ask, ‘What can we do to further build on this success?’”

“So everyone’s super excited. The good thing about success and momentum is that it breeds even more. And everyone feels they can do more.”

Lien also pointed to the strides made by the jumpers. On top of Kam’s silver, Andrew Medina won a bronze in the men’s long jump on Dec 15 for Singapore’s first medal in the event since Ng Yee Ming’s bronze at the 1983 Games.

And on Dec 11, Gabriel Lee broke Stefan Tseng’s 16-year-old national triple jump record (16.04m) with his 16.09m to clinch the bronze.

It was also Singapore’s first triple jump medal since 1971, when Leslie Shepherdson won a silver.

At the 2023 Games, the only medal from a field event was high jumper Michelle Sng’s bronze.

There had also been no Singapore representative – male or female – in either the long or triple jump since the 2015 Games, but in Thailand there was at least one in each of those events.

This is the result of the national jumps programme that SA started in 2023, when the veteran Valeri Obidko was roped in as national jumps coach and coach developer.

SA deputy president Marinda Teo said that it is looking to work more closely with schools to unearth and develop more talents for field events.

She added: “I had faith that there would have been results starting from this edition, but I am amazed at the number of records... and the number of athletes.”

On the final day of athletics action, the men’s 4x400m relay team of Quek, Thiruben Thana Rajan, Reuben Lee and Zubin Muncherji claimed the bronze after clocking 3min 10.74sec.

Thailand won the gold while Vietnam bagged the silver.

National distance runners Soh Rui Yong and Shaun Goh missed out on the podium in the men’s 10,000m after Soh – who won a silver in the event in 2023 – finished seventh out of 11, while Goh was eighth.

The race was won by Thai favourite Kieran Tuntivate in 29min 41.81sec for his third gold medal of these Games, with the Philippines’ Yacine Guermali (29:43.94) second and Indonesia’s Rikki Simbolon (29:54.64) third.

He took the 1,500m and 5,000m crowns earlier in the Games.

Games debutante Tia Rozario finished just outside the podium places in the women’s long jump with a 6.11m.

Vietnam’s Tran Thi Loan won the gold with a 6.53m while compatriot Ha Thi Thuy Hang (6.29m) took the silver and Indonesia’s Maria Natalia Londa (6.27m) bagged bronze.

Hosts Thailand topped the medal table with 13 golds, 13 silvers and four bronzes, with Vietnam (12-12-10) and Indonesia (9-5-6) second and third respectively.