Singapore sprinter Marc Louis lowers indoor 60m national record by 0.01sec
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Marc Louis clocked 6.68sec and clinched silver at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver Meet in Oskemen, Kazakhstan.
PHOTO: SINGAPORE ATHLETICS
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SINGAPORE – When Singapore sprinter Marc Louis finished his indoor 60m race in Oskemen, Kazakhstan on March 1, his gut instinct told him it was not a good run.
But a pleasant surprise awaited him – his 6.68sec timing, which helped him clinch a joint silver at the International Tournament for the Prizes of Olga Rypakova, also saw him shave 0.01sec off his own national record.
The 22-year-old finished tied with Bulgarian Hristo Iliev, behind Oman’s Ali Anwar Ali Al Balushi (6.63sec), at the Athletic Centre Olga Rypakova, which is named after Kazakhstan’s track and field icon.
The result is a lift for Louis, who completed national service in 2024 and became a full-time athlete
His previous record was clocked exactly a year ago at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, where he broke Gary Yeo’s 2012 mark of 6.71sec.
Calling his latest result a “good motivation for future competitions”, Louis said on March 2: “It’s good start to the year. I guess even if it’s by a bit, you know, it’s still my personal best.
“I think the start wasn’t the best, but after like 20m, I executed the ending part better than I did last year.
“I actually thought it wasn’t a very good race, but when I saw the clock, it’s good that I got a national record. But… there’s room to improve.”
For his coach Benber Yu, the national record came two weeks late – he had expected Louis to lower it at the Keely Klassic in Birmingham, where his protege clocked 6.79sec on Feb 15.
Yu said: “We were expecting to break it in Birmingham but, I don’t know, maybe the condition was not that good there, but yesterday, we were prepared to break it.
“We had a good preparation and exposure in Birmingham. Because if you look back at the 60m indoor competition two weeks ago, it was his first competition of the season.
“This race in Kazakhstan is a good thing. If we didn’t have Birmingham, then this would be his first competition and maybe Marc wouldn’t be that confident.”
With this shot in the arm, Louis will be looking to hit the targets for the year set by Yu – lowering his own 100m national record by 0.08sec to 10.19sec and breaking the 200m record with a 20.8sec time.
The current 200m mark of 21.07sec was set by Reuben Lee at the Hanoi SEA Games in 2022, 0.07sec under Louis’ personal best of 21.14sec, which was recorded at the Philippine Championships in 2024.
Louis’ main event for the year will be the Dec 9-20 SEA Games in Thailand, where he will be eyeing the 100m gold to add to his silver from the 2023 edition in Cambodia and bronze from Hanoi.
To help him work towards his goal, he will be taking his spikes to the May 27-31 Asian championships in Gumi, South Korea, and the world championships in Tokyo from Sept 13-21.
But first, the pair will return to Singapore to prepare for the March 21-23 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China.
Yu said: “We’re aiming to break the record again (in China) and we’re going to work on his weaknesses.”
Melvyn Teoh is a sports journalist at The Straits Times.
