Swimmer Gan Ching Hwee breaks 18-year-old 400m IM national record after accepting coach’s challenge

SINGAPORE – Competing in the morning session of the Singapore Swim Series on Feb 8, national swimmer Gan Ching Hwee comfortably topped the women’s 400m individual medley heats in 4min 57.69sec.

While that timing was nowhere near her 4:53.22 personal best, her coach Eugene Chia noted her strength and stroke efficiency and promptly issued a challenge ahead of the afternoon’s final – break the national record (NR) of 4:51.25 set by Quah Ting Wen in 2008.

Gan, who was representing Singapore Swimming Club, duly obliged, clocking 4:47.60 at the OCBC Aquatic Centre several hours later to bag her fifth individual national record.

The 22-year-old, who also holds the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1,500m freestyle national marks, told The Straits Times: “With this morning’s swim, my coach was like, ‘I don’t think you’re that far off the record, so why not, let’s just gun for it’.

“And so I tried in the afternoon final, and I’m glad I hit it because I’ve been eyeing this record for as long as I can remember, from before I was 17… So it was definitely something on my radar for a really long time.”

Chia said: “She looked quite strong and efficient with her morning-heat swim, so I thought why not just challenge her to make an attempt at the national record?

“In my mind, there are only lessons to learn even if we didn’t get it, but the great thing about Ching Hwee is that she never backs down from a challenge.

“Ultimately, me and our sport science support team were quietly confident of her ability to give a good shot at the NR… I said ‘no expectations’, but of course delighted to have broken the record.”

The meet was Gan’s first of 2026, following a historic outing at December’s SEA Games in Thailand, where she became the first Singaporean to complete a unique triple-triple – winning the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle at the biennial meet for three consecutive editions.

Gan added that she did not have much expectations coming into the February meet as it is still early in the season, having done mostly conditioning work since resuming training in January after a two-week post-SEA Games break.

“We also had a pretty tough week of training in the lead-up to this and I was pretty sore,” she added. “My muscles were aching a lot coming to this weekend of racing, but I think I just gave my best.”

Her previous personal best in the 400m IM was clocked in 2022, when she was still completing her nutrition science degree at Indiana University in the US.

Clocking the NR this time around is of extra significance to the long distance swimmer.

“The 400m IM has a special place in my swimming journey because it also served as the catalyst for my entire swimming journey,” she said. “It was the first event I had success in at the regional level; at SEA Games in 2017 (when she won a bronze).

“It used to be my main event, before I went on to specialise in freestyle and distance swimming.”

Her major target for the year is to clinch a podium spot at the Sept 19-Oct 4 Asian Games in Japan, having finished fourth in both the women’s 800m and 1,500m freestyle in Hangzhou in 2023.

Asked about her 2026 goals, she said: “There are a couple of major Games, like the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, but the main one would be the Asian Games. After fourth-placed finishes at the last Asian Games, I really hope to improve on that and hopefully get a podium position this time and give my best for Singapore.”

Next up for Gan will be the Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships from March 17 to 22, before heading to the Gold Coast for the April 6-8 Australian Open, followed by the July 23-Aug 2 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.