‘Feels great to put S’pore on the map’: Shanti Pereira 8th in Commonwealth Games 200m final

SINGAPORE – Singapore sprint queen Shanti Pereira had already etched her name into the history books after qualifying for her first Commonwealth Games final, but the 29-year-old’s ambition did not end there as she had hoped for a better showing.

At Glasgow’s Scotstoun Stadium on July 31 (Aug 1, Singapore time), Pereira was eighth among eight runners after clocking 23.21sec in the women’s 200m final.

Adaejah Hodge of the British Virgin Islands – who set a Games record of 22.01sec en route to the final – stormed ahead of the field to claim gold in 22.07sec. Trinidad and Tobago’s Shaniqua Bascombe (22.35) and Alana Reid of Jamaica (22.56) took the silver and bronze respectively.

Pereira said after her race: “Well… could be better, I wish I did a better time and got a better placing, but honestly I’m just extremely happy and grateful that I got to run in the final today.

“It felt great warming up and lining up against such strong girls and it’s so cold! But it was a great experience and I’m happy with all of my performances here so far for the individual (events).”

The Asian Games 200m gold medallist had suffered a stress injury to her fibula ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics and experienced another injury scare in April, when she pulled out of the 200m at the Singapore Open Track and Field Championships owing to a minor injury.

She added: “I was trying to see if I could run faster today, if I had good conditions, but I have to remember that I do have four races in my legs already and the fact that I’m okay, healthy and competing, that’s just a huge privilege.

“The Commonwealth Games are such competitive Games that they are next to the Olympics or a world championship, so it means so much that I get to run with amazing girls from these countries that are known for their world-class athletes, to be able to continue to put Singapore on the map, and it feels great.”

Pereira later teamed up with Amanda Loo, Elizabeth-Ann Tan and Kerstin Ong for the women’s 4x100m relay on Aug 1, clocking 45.52sec to finish fifth in their heat and ninth out of 12 teams overall.

The men’s 4x100m relay quartet of Marc Louis, Tate Tan, Xander Ho and Ian Gan also finished fifth in their heat in 40.07sec, placing 10th out of 13 overall.

Both teams did not qualify for the finals.

In the men’s triple jump, Gabriel Lee leapt a season’s best of 15.97m to finish seventh out of 10.

On July 30, Pereira became the first Singaporean runner to qualify for an individual final at the quadrennial event after posting a season-best 22.81sec in the semi-finals to finish eighth overall.

The 100m and 200m national record holder has been in red-hot form in Glasgow.

On July 27, she booked a place in the 100m semi-finals after qualifying first in her heat and finishing third out of 53 athletes.

Her season’s best time of 11.24sec was just 0.04sec shy of her national record of 11.20sec set at the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships.

Competing in cold and rainy conditions a day later, she finished fifth in her semi-final in 11.40sec and 14th overall to miss out on a spot in the final.

National sprints coach Luis Cunha said that Pereira, who also won a 100m silver at the Hangzhou Asiad, “achieved her goals with impressive performances” at these Games, having clocked two season-best times in Glasgow.

“For the 2026 season, her objectives are to match or surpass her previous performances at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games,” added the 61-year-old.

“For the Commonwealth Games, she achieved her goals with impressive performances, and both her performances were good enough to qualify for the semi-final at the Olympics or world championships.

“The 2026 female sprint events at Commonwealth are equivalent to (the) Olympic Games without Americans. For an Asian, South-east Asian or Singaporean athlete, her results were unprecedented.

“Since her season goals were to perform well at these two major competitions, we planned for her to peak now and again in September (for the Asian Games), meaning she’s in the condition to fight for a podium place in Nagoya.”

In the women’s track 10km scratch race at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, national cyclists Elizabeth Liau and Valencia Tan finished 15th and 22nd out of 23 riders respectively.

Australia’s Georgia Baker claimed gold ahead of New Zealand’s Samantha Donnelly, while Scotland’s Erin Boothman clinched the bronze.