SINGAPORE - Joseph Schooling is on track to complete a clean sweep of winning all six swimming events he is competing in at the 2017 SEA Games, as the 22-year-old collected his fourth and fifth golds on Thursday (Aug 24) evening.
Schooling clocked 48.93sec to retain his 100m freestyle title, ahead of Vietnamese Hoang Quy Phuoc (49.31sec) and team-mate Darren Lim (50.56sec).
In the 4 x 200m freestyle, the quartet of Danny Yeo, 27, Quah Zheng Wen, 20, Pang Sheng Jun, 24, and Schooling extended Singapore's dominance in the event to victories in seven editions of the Games.
The relay team won the race by more than six seconds, clocking 7min 18.94sec. Vietnam (7:25.32) and Malaysia (7:26.91) won the silver and bronze respectively.
Schooling will be looking for a second consecutive perfect showing at the SEA Games when he takes part in the 4 x 100 medley relay on Saturday. At the last SEA Games, Schooling won all nine races he took part in.
Quah also added his fourth and fifth golds of the Games.
In the 100m backstroke, he clocked 54.81sec to retain his crown, ahead of I Gede Siman Sudartawa of Indonesia (54.94sec) at the National Aquatic Centre in Kuala Lumpur.
Quah had trailed the Indonesian by 0.17sec after the first 50m of the race, but roared back to win and exact revenge on his rival who had beaten him in the 50m backstroke on Monday. Singapore's Francis Fong bagged the bronze in 55.92.
Samantha Yeo smashed two national records but they were not enough for her to win the gold as she claimed the silver in the women's 200m individual medley and the 100m breaststroke.
In the 200m IM, the 20-year-old clocked 2:16.85 to lower former swim queen Joscelin Yeo's 2004 mark of 2:16.86 by 0.01sec.
Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Anh Vien won the race in 2:14.25 to retain her crown. Ressa Kania Dewi claimed the bronze in 2:17.46. Singapore's Quah Jing Wen finished fifth in 2:18.90.
In the 100m breaststroke, Samantha clocked 1:09.44 to erase Nicolette Teo's 2007 national mark of 1:10.15. Malaysia's Phee Jinq En won the event in a new Games record of 1:09.00, while Anandia Treciel V. Evato of Indonesia took the bronze in 1:10.82. Singapore's Christie Chue was fourth in 1:11.01.
Pang won his first medal at the meet when he bagged a silver in the men's 200m IM in the first event of the night. He touched the wall in a new personal best time of 2:02.06, behind Indonesia's Triady Fauzi Sidiq (2:01.72). Vietnamese Le Nguyen Paul claimed the bronze in 2:03.39. Singapore's breaststroke specialist Lionel Khoo was tied-fifth in 2:04.79 with Thailand's Ketin Nuttapong.
Pang's previous PB was 2:03.00.
