2021 (2022) SOUTHEAST ASIAN GAMES
Tonight’s finals session saw Singaporean Gan Ching Hwee complete an impressive sweep of freestyle events culminating in her victory in the women’s 1500m distance.
Stopping the clock in a time of 16:36.73, the 18-year-old captured her 4th individual gold medal, adding this event to her previous wins this week in the 200m free, 400m free, and 800 free. Her results this week are a carryover from a successful freshman season at Indiana University in the United States, where she placed 3rd in the Big Ten in the 1650 yard freestyle after making her debut for the team in January. She raced at the NCAA Championships, earning Honorable Mention All-America honors in the same event, and shortly thereafter rolled into a best time in long course in the 400 IM at the Pro Swim Series meet in San Antonio.
In other races Thailand’s Jenjira Srisaard earned her 5th medal of the meet in the women’s 50 free. She won the 50 fly individually earlier this week and was also the silver medalist in the 100 free, 50 breast, and 400 free relay. Jenjira took top honors in the 50 free in a mark of 25.12 while her teammate, Kamonchanok Kwanmuang got it done for gold in the 400m IM in 4:49.98.
Jenjira’s 50 free swim is a new Thai Record, breaking her own mark by two-tenths of a second.
With one day of competition remaining, Thailand has 4 gold and 20 total medals. That already surpasses their total of 2 gold and 18 total medals from 2017.
Singapore ended the night in the women’s 400 medley relay, with the combination of Bonnie Yeo, Letitia Sim, Quah Jing Wen and Quah Ting Wen collectively clocking a winning effort of 4:07.62.
The men’s events were highlighted by Vietnam’s Pham Thanh Bao doubling up on his 100m breast win with a victory in the 50m breast. The Vietnamese ace earned a time of 28.28 to beat the field and add another gold to his nation’s column, plus a new National Record.
Additional Winners:
Malaysia’s Hoe Yea Khiew took the men’s 200m free in a mark of 1:47.81. That puts him half-a-second short of the Malaysian National Record that was set in 2017. That marks a second-straight win in the event for Malaysia, following up on Welson Sim’s victory in 2017.
The men’s 200m IM saw Trần Hưng Nguyên complete a sweep of the men’s IM events, with the Vietnamese swimmer stopping the clock in a time of 2:01.22 to win the 200m IM this evening. That swim is a new Vietnamese Record. Vietnam has 9 gold medals and 21 total medals with a day of racing remaining – 1 gold and 2 total medals shy of their 2017 result.
Swimming Medal Table Through Day 5