Swimmer Julia Yeo, 15, breaks women’s 200m backstroke national record again

SINGAPORE – Just three months after a memorable SEA Games debut, national swimmer Julia Yeo continued her record-breaking exploits as she set a women’s 200m backstroke national mark at the Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships on March 19.

At the OCBC Aquatic Centre, the 15-year-old touched home first in 2min 15.03sec to lower her previous record of 2:16.51 set at the Thailand SEA Games last December.

Japan’s Momma Shiina was second in 2:15.19, while her compatriot Waki Kanna (2:17.81) was third.

On bettering her record, the Singapore Sports School student said: “I’m happy with my race today because I think I executed it quite well, even though I have a lot of things to improve on.

“I’ll go back to training with my coach to try to fine-tune all the skills, like my underwaters.

“I was actually aiming for the Asian Games B-cut, which is 2:14.39, and I think this national record just came along with the swim and I guess I’m pleasantly surprised.”

This was the first senior national record at the ongoing meet, which runs from March 13 to 22.

On March 18, the Singapore Swimming Club set a boys’ Under-17 national record in the 4x200m freestyle relay, with the quartet of Avel Chua, Matthew Jaedan Lam, Russel Pang and Low Ka Wai clocking 7:45.74, rewriting the previous mark of 7:48.24 from 2015.

Julia enjoyed a breakout maiden SEA Games campaign, claiming her first senior national mark in 2:16.51 in the 200m back final, which eclipsed Tao Li’s old record of 2:17.12 that had stood since 2009.

She also set a personal best of 1:04.75 in the 100m back final.

Then, she unexpectedly found herself competing in the women’s 4x100m medley relay final, coming in as a last-minute substitute for Levenia Sim, who had sustained a shoulder injury in the warmup.

The teenager, who swam the backstroke leg of the relay, joined forces with Quah Ting Wen, Quah Jing Wen and Letitia Sim to set a Games record 4:05.79 to retain the title in an event that Singapore have won at every edition since 2003.

Coming into the meet, her coach Jerome Teo’s main goal was for Julia to perform her best and continue refining her race processes.

In training, they have been working closely with the High Performance Sport Institute to refine Julia’s backstroke dive, the amplitude and efficiency of her underwater kicks, as well as her breakout timing – the moment a swimmer transitions from underwater kicking to surface swimming after a start or turn.

Teo believes all this has contributed towards his charge’s latest national record.

“More importantly, it shows growth in her race composure and execution under pressure,” he said.

“These are important steps as we continue working towards achieving the qualifying mark for the Asian Games.”

Next on their sights is the 2:12.82 200m back A-cut for the Sept 19-Oct 4 Asian Games in Japan.