Team Singapore break two national records at 2022 FINA World Championships

Two Singapore national records were broken at the 19th FINA World Championships 2022 held at Budapest, Hungary. 

Gan Ching Hwee rewrote the national record for the women’s 1500m Freestyle, after clocking in a personal best timing of 16:32.43 in the competition heats on Sunday (Jun 19). She finished 14th place in the event. 

The other national record was broken by Nicholas Rui Karsten Mahabir, who set a new national under-17 men’s 50m Breaststroke record and personal best timing of 28.11 on Monday. He finished 25th in the event.

Teong Tzen Wei also became the first Singaporean male swimmer since 2017 to advance to the finals of a FINA World Championships.

Tzen Wei clocked a personal best timing of 23.03 in the 50m Butterfly semi finals on Saturday and was the only Asian to qualify for the finals. 

He eventually finished eighth, with a timing of 23.29s in the finals on Sunday. 

Apart from Zheng Wei, there have only been two other Singaporean male swimmers who have made it to a world championships final in the last four decades – Ang Peng Siong and Joseph Schooling.

Ang Peng Siong finished fourth in the 50m Freestyle in Madrid in 1986, while Joseph Schooling clinched bronze medals in the 100m Butterfly in Russia in 2015 and in Budapest two years later.

Quah Jing Wen also made it to the semi-finals stage in the women’s 100m Butterfly semi-finals. She finished 16th, with a timing of 59.42. Jing Wen had secured a timing of 59.29 in the heats. 

The 19th FINA World Championships 2022 will wrap up on Jul 3.