Sophie Soon’s career comes full circle after 10 years ahead of World Para Swimming C’ships

SINGAPORE – It still comes as a surprise to national para-swimmer Sophie Soon whenever strangers approach her.

Sometimes the conversations revolve around her guide dog Orinda. On other occasions, they offer encouragement after learning about her on television programmes or reading about her in the news.

It may never be something the 28-year-old fully gets used to, but she welcomes them as those moments represent more than just personal recognition – they also signal how much support for para-sport has grown over the past decade.

She said: “I’m very appreciative that people have taken interest in my story, not just myself but my teammates as well, recognising us in public and making the effort to come up to congratulate us or wish us all the best...

“But, on the flip side of that, I look at that as how far our Paralympic movement has gone and how far our outreach efforts have gone, which is incredible.”

For Soon, who has a visual impairment, the shift is a reminder of how much things have changed since she made her Asean Para Games (APG) debut at the OCBC Aquatic Centre in 2015.

Back then, she was an unheralded teenager with a point to prove.

Ten years later, as she prepares to race at the Sept 21-27 Toyota World Para Swimming Championships at the same venue, she feels her career has come full circle.

The intervening years have been fruitful. She has become a multiple APG gold medallist, a two-time Paralympian and, in 2022, clinched a silver medal in the SB12 100m breaststroke at the world championships in Madeira, Portugal.

Her career has not only been shaped by success, but also by difficult lessons that came with chasing perfection.

Soon’s pursuit of improvement once led her to push too hard, overtraining and being overly critical of herself, and in the process, losing some of the joy she found in the sport.

With the help of her psychologist, she has been working to rediscover that sense of enjoyment. It is one that she hopes to experience at the world meet, where she is competing in the women’s SB11 100m breaststroke (Sept 23) and S11 100m backstroke (Sept 26).

This year has also brought personal tragedy. Her younger brother Colin, who was also a national para-swimmer,

died earlier in 2025

. The cause of death was not disclosed, with the Singapore Disability Sports Council citing the need to respect the family’s privacy.

Soon said: “I really just want to find the joy and happiness in the small things you do, the reason why you race in the first place: ‘Why do you like racing? Why do you keep competing? Why do you keep training?’

“When you hyperfixate on criticism and mistakes and trying to make yourself as perfect as you can, you get lost in that and you just see yourself as a whole human that’s full of imperfections.

“You don’t ever see the successes, you don’t see the triumphs that you’ve made through your career.

“I’m trying to refocus myself on more positive thinking – I have achieved pretty good things in the past and whether we can replicate that we’ll never know. But what we can do is replicate the enjoyment and the fun I had while achieving those things.”

Even with setbacks, swimming still gives her a sense of freedom that keeps her going in the sport.

On land, she relies on her white cane and Orinda. But, in the water, she is liberated by the ability to move around completely independently.

She said: “Not to say that I hate being disabled. Of course I’ve had my days and times where I’ve felt that having a disability is very hindering, which it definitely is at times.

“But I look at the big picture and I’m very appreciative of my life... I don’t think my disability has necessarily impaired my life, it’s just that things are different.

“When you swim, things are pretty much almost the same for everybody, that in that sense gives me a sense of liberation.”

There is also the ambitious streak in her that remains. The hunger she had as an up-and-coming swimmer 10 years ago still drives her to see what more she can achieve.

She said: “As you keep going, it gets harder and harder to achieve those things and you’re not going to achieve them every single competition.

“The fact that you’re not getting it as frequently and, once you do get it, it again gives you another high. I want to keep seeing what I can do and what I can do next.”