Thiruben finds his stride in the 800m as he chases 37-year-old national record
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Thiruben Thana Rajan clocks a personal best of 1min 51.73sec in the 800m at Singapore Athletics Inter-Club Championships on Nov 10.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF RICHARD SEOW
SINGAPORE – Whenever a Singapore track and field record is broken, Thiruben Thana Rajan gets to work quickly.
A marketing and sponsorships executive at Singapore Athletics (SA), his job includes creating social media content to celebrate the athletes’ achievements and milestones.
Since joining SA as an intern in January 2023 before taking on a full-time role last June, he has had plenty to showcase – from sprint queen Shanti Pereira’s historic successes at the SEA and Asian Games to the marks set by 100m runner Marc Louis and distance runner Soh Rui Yong.
Now, Thiruben, 24, is itching to write his own record, and story.
On Nov 10, the 800m runner took a significant step towards that goal by clocking a personal best (PB) of 1min 51.73sec at SA’s Inter-Club Championships at Yio Chu Kang Stadium.
Competing for the Oldham Athletics team, he met the 2025 SEA Games qualifying mark of 1:53.86 and is within striking distance of the 37-year-old national record of 1:50.56 (electronic timing) set by S. Pandian.
The hand-timed mark of 1:49.9 was clocked by S. Surendra in 1983.
Thiruben, who will next compete in the Victorian Milers Club meet on Dec 19 in Melbourne, is confident that he can better both records soon.
He said: “A big part of my job is writing about the national records and interviewing fellow national athletes, and it is a good thing that we have had a lot of old records broken recently.
“So now for me to be potentially part of that is amazing. My goal is to really hit my maximum potential which is really to go beyond the national record.”
A member of the pioneer batch of spexPotential athletes announced in April, he decided to focus on the 800m in early 2024.
The national Under-18 record holder in the 400m (47.91sec) competed in the event at the 2022 Asian Games and 2023 SEA Games. He clocked a PB of 47.26sec in Hangzhou and in Cambodia finished fifth in the individual event and was part of the 4x400m relay team who broke the 49-year national mark.
But he was hampered by injuries in the one-lap race and in April, he suffered a grade two hamstring tear in his first race of the season.
“After so many years of constantly getting injured, I decided I have to just make the switch to 800m because it just suits my body a lot better,” said Thiruben, a former cross-country runner who also competed in the 800m in school.
“I haven’t built up the strength needed for 400m yet. For the 400m, you need to be a bit more powerful but my build is more suited for the middle-distance events.
“I discussed with my coaches and we decided that the 800m is better for me and it is the event that I really have the potential to win a (SEA Games) gold medal in.”
If his chase for gold is successful in Bangkok, Thiruben will end a long medal drought for Singapore in the 800m – Sergit Singh is the only man to claim a medal in the event, taking bronze in 1973.
While his PB is quicker than the 2023 gold-medal time of 1:52.91 by Cambodia’s Chhun Bunthorn, Thiruben noted that the race was slower as it was a tactical one.
He predicts that he will need to hit around 1:48 to triumph and counts Malaysia’s Umar Osman – the 400m champion at the 2023 edition who also could make the switch to 800m – and Thailand’s Joshua Atkinson, with a PB of 1:48.18, as possible contenders for gold.
Thiruben Thana Rajan clocked a personal best of one minute and 51.73 seconds in the 800m at SA’s Inter-Club Championships, held at the Yio Chu Kang Stadium on Nov 10.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF RICHARD SEOW
With a year to go to the Games, the clock is ticking for Thiruben, who said his first 800m race in six years felt like starting “back from square one”. In October, he had a PB of 1:53.39 en route to finishing first in the Nagase Cup at the Tokyo National Stadium. He then bettered it on Nov 10.
Thiruben, who credits his foundation to veteran coach Loh Chan Pew, previously worked with Pereira’s coach Luis Cunha for several months. In May, he decided to link up with former national sprinters Khairyll Amri and Hamkah Afik.
Khairyll wants his charge to enjoy his journey in the sport.
He added: “The timings have been within our expectations and everything in training is now pointing to better times in the upcoming races.
“I do believe that he’ll be able to break the longstanding record… it would mean a lot to him and all of us, but we’ve told him to just enjoy this process.”
