Sprinter Shanti Pereira sets new women’s 200m national record in Brisbane
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National sprinter Shanti Pereira recorded her second national mark of the season in the women's 200m event at the Brisbane Track Classic.
ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
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SINGAPORE – As Shanti Pereira continued her fine form with her second national record of the season on Saturday, her coach Luis Cunha believes that the sprinter has elevated her performance to another level.
The 26-year-old clocked 23.16 seconds at the Brisbane Track Classic on Saturday to finish third, behind winner Australia’s Ella Connolly (23.12sec) and New Zealand’s Georgia Hulls (23.16sec), and eclipse her previous mark of 23.46sec set at the Commonwealth Games in August 2022.
Cunha said: “In her last three races, she’s broken the 200m record – at the SEA Games, the Commonwealth Games and now the first race of the season she broke it.
“This time she did a performance that is already Asian level, her performance is already in a different level from before.”
Her time at the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre compares favourably with the silver-medal clocking at the 2018 Asian Games.
Then, India’s Dutee Chand finished second in 23.20sec behind Bahrain’s Edidiong Odiong (22.96).
Just three weeks ago, Pereira had lowered her 100m national record
She said on Saturday: “I am just really glad that training has been going well, this opportunity to race here with all these girls who are doing very good times.”
But even then, her performance in Brisbane came as a shock to her.
She said: “I knew based on training that I had a personal best in me, but I didn’t expect it to be that much of a personal best. That was really just insane.”
She has been training in New Zealand and Australia to prepare for major competitions that include the May 5-17 SEA Games in Cambodia and Sept 23-Oct 8 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
At the Hanoi SEA Games in May 2022, Pereira rewrote her women’s 200m national record to win the event,
Ahead of the SEA Games, she said: “I’m just really excited going into it.
“I’m trying to enjoy the process and my time and being happy and healthy while doing it.
“I’m trying to stick with this energy, it’s a really big year.”
Cunha added: “She’s beating girls who are very fast, so these kinds of things give confidence to athletes. She now believes that she can do it.”
