With two national records, Russel Pang, 16, is S’pore’s new distance swimming hope

SINGAPORE – In just four months, 16-year-old Russel Pang has become Singapore’s rising star of distance swimming.

After setting the men’s 1,500m freestyle national record in 15min 28.46sec at the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand last December, he clocked another national record in the men’s 800m freestyle at the Australian Age Championships Boys’ 16-year-olds event on April 12. His time of 8:04.70 eclipsed Glen Lim’s 2023 mark of 8:06.96.

Shaving more than six seconds off his previous personal best of 8:10.17, the timing placed him second at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre, sandwiched by locals Lincoln Wearing (7:56.04) and Jesse Hamilton (8:07.78).

Russel shared that he had focused on “maintaining consistency throughout the race, especially holding pace in the middle sections where it’s easy to drop off”.

He and his coach Eugene Chia also worked on his aerobic base and efficiency in the water to help him sustain speed. Small technical adjustments, like turns and stroke rates, also made a difference over the distance.

He said: “I wouldn’t say I fully expected the national record, but I knew I was in good shape coming into the meet.

“The focus was more on executing my race plan properly rather than chasing a record. To see it come together with a national record is definitely nice, and it shows that the work we’ve been putting in is moving in the right direction.”

While Gan Ching Hwee has established herself as South-east Asia’s queen of distance swimming, it has been 15 years since Singapore last won a SEA Games gold medal over 800m or 1,500m, and Russel’s emergence raises hopes that he can fill that void.

The Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) student announced himself on the international stage with a 1,500m freestyle bronze on his SEA Games debut in December, where the men’s 800m freestyle event was excluded from the programme.

However, his personal bests are still some way off the Singapore National Olympic Council’s Asian Games qualifying benchmark, which is pegged at the sixth-placed timings from the previous Asiad – 8:02.00 for the men’s 800m freestyle, and 15:14.27 for the men’s 1,500m freestyle.

Chia, who also coaches Gan, said: “Russel’s emergence has come about as a result of ability, hard work, hunger for success and strong family support. The journey to becoming a top regional swimmer in South-east Asia is something we are looking to achieve in 2027 and 2029.

“Making a breakthrough to the Asian level of competition in distance swimming, which is currently dominated by the Chinese, Japanese and South Koreans, will require more time and focus to improve his physical capacities and technical skills.

“Russel is only 16 years old this year, so he has time on his side should he choose to chase progression in order to stand among the Asian elite in the coming years.”

Nevertheless, the two national records over the short span are a confidence boost for the teenager.

Russel said: “More importantly, it confirms that the training approach is working. There’s still a lot to improve, so I see this more as a checkpoint rather than an end result. It motivates me to keep building towards the bigger meets later in the season.”