SINGAPORE - As she sprinted down the track at the National Stadium, Shanti Pereira's steps wrote history at the same time as she won the SEA Games 200m women's sprint gold on Wednesday evening.

The 18-year-old Singaporean dashed home in 23.60sec, ahead of Kayla Richardson of the Philippines (23.71s) and Vietnam's Nguyen Thi Oanh (23.92s).

Shanti's time is a new national record, beating her own mark of 23.82s she set during the heats on Wednesday's heats in the morning.

It was also the Republic's first gold in the SEA Games women's 200m sprint since the heyday of Glory Barnabas, who was victorious in 1973, ending a 42-year wait to get back to the top of the podium.