Shanti Pereira aims for another historic feat at World Athletics Championships

SINGAPORE – It has been a standout season for Singapore’s track and field athletes, with individual national records tumbling across multiple events.

Calvin Quek

(men’s 400m hurdles), Shaun Goh and Vanessa Lee (men’s and women’s 10,000m), Ang Chen Xiang (men’s 110m hurdles),

Kerstin Ong

(women’s 100m hurdles),

Marc Louis

(men’s 200m), Thiruben Thana Rajan (men’s 800m) and Kampton Kam (men’s high jump) have etched their names in the record books in 2025.

Sprint queen Shanti Pereira may be missing from that list, but the 28-year-old continues to blaze a trail for Singapore athletics.

While she did not notch individual marks, she won two silvers at the Asian Championships in May and bettered the women’s 4x100m relay record with Elizabeth-Ann Tan, Shannon Tan and Laavinia Jaiganth.

Her 200m season’s best of 22.81sec – clocked in May in Japan – puts her in the top 100 in the world rankings and third fastest in Asia.

She will compete at the Sept 13-21 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo after qualifying for her second consecutive appearance at the sport’s most prestigious meet.

She will be in action in the 200m heats on Sept 17, while Singapore’s other representative Quek – who was awarded the universality slot – will race in the 400m hurdles heats on Sept 15.

Calling it “a new stage” in her track career, Pereira told The Sunday Times that qualifying for the world championships via her world ranking was surreal.

She said: “Maybe because of all my success two years ago, it (qualifying on merit) might not mean as much to some people, but it means a great deal to me. It shows I’ve reached a new stage in my career, training to qualify for world-level competitions and actually securing that spot.

“It will never stop feeling amazing. As a Singaporean, it’s something I’m proud of because for so long, it didn’t feel possible.”

Pereira has had a busy season, which began with training and competitions in Australia and New Zealand in February and March, a stint in South Africa in April before she returned home for the Singapore Open. She then headed to Japan and South Korea over the next two months to prepare for the Asian Championships and after competing in Gumi, the sprinter was in multiple races in Europe over the following months.

The records have not fallen in 2025, but Pereira swatted away suggestions that her performances are taken for granted.

“Once you reach a certain level, people expect you to keep producing the same or better results,” she said.

“So when I’m not breaking national records, it might look like I’m not doing well. But that’s just how sport works, it’s normal not to break records every year. As an athlete, I have to understand that’s how it is when you’re at this level.”

In 2023, Pereira stamped her mark in Asia when she won the 200m final at the Hangzhou Asian Games – it was Singapore’s first athletics gold medal since 1974. She also clinched a sprint double at the Asian Athletics Championships and became the first Singaporean woman to

win the 100m and 200m

in the same edition of the SEA Games.

Her banner year saw the runner qualifying for the Budapest world championships on merit for the first time, and she also became the first Singaporean to reach the 200m semi-finals – the result earned her a 200m berth

at the Paris Olympics

.

She also rewrote the 100m national mark six times and the 200m record four times in 2023.

But 2024 proved to be a challenge. She started the year by breaking the 400m national record in her first race of the season in March, but a month later, she

suffered a stress injury to her fibula

.

It forced her to miss the Diamond League in China and disrupted preparations for the Paris Games, where she did not advance from the 100m and 200m heats.

Pereira noted that her confidence took a hit due to the injury, and she has put in hard work to bounce back by “grinding every day and focusing on the things I can control”.

On her recovery, she said: “The process is mentally and emotionally exhausting. You might be in the best shape of your life, and suddenly, you have to restart.

“A lot of plans change, and it takes longer than you want. Athletes are impatient by nature, so when something takes longer than it should, you get frustrated. When you return, you’re rebuilding all over again, and that’s why confidence can take a hit.”

Pereira’s coach Luis Cunha said: “She’s still at the same high level, but for her, breaking the national record now means running one of the fastest times in Asian history. That’s not something you do every year.

“No athlete breaks their PBs (personal bests) or records annually; even Usain Bolt didn’t after 2009.”

Crucially, Cunha predicts that Pereira’s best times of the season are still to come.

At her fifth world championships, she is aiming to clock a time that will put her in the semi-finals – a repeat of her feat from the last edition.

After the world meet, attention will shift to the Dec 9-20 SEA Games in Thailand, her seventh appearance at the biennial event.

“To say that it is my seventh SEA Games is crazy to me, but it’s still just as exciting and meaningful and I’ll be looking to defend my titles,” said Pereira, who has won four golds, a silver and five bronzes at the Games.

Meanwhile, Quek – who is also coached by Cunha – is aiming to do Singapore proud at his second world championships.

The 29-year-old, who set his latest national 400m hurdles mark of 49.75sec on Aug 20 in Japan, finished 37th out of 41 hurdlers in 2023 after clocking 50.53sec in the heats.

He said: “Goal-wise, definitely, the biggest thing is to do better than 2023 in terms of timing. If I can show that I can consistently run sub-50, that’s great, especially as preparation for the SEA Games where I really want to win a medal.”