SINGAPORE: National swimmer Gan Ching Hwee continued her impressive run at the World Aquatics Championships on 28 July, breaking two more national records and securing a place in the women’s 1,500m freestyle final.
The 22-year-old clocked 16:01.29 in the 1,500m heats, smashing her previous national record of 16:10.13 set at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where she had narrowly missed the final by one spot.
This time, Gan finished fourth overall out of 27 athletes.
American star Katie Ledecky dominated Heat 3 with a time of 15:36.68 to qualify for the 29 July final.
Gan also set a new national mark for the 800m split during her swim, timing 8:29.93 and breaking her previous best of 8:32.37, also achieved in Paris.
This achievement marks her third national record in just two days.
On 27 July, Gan rewrote the record books in the 400m freestyle, winning her heat and finishing 13th overall with a time of 4:09.81.
The previous record of 4:11.24 had stood since the 2009 SEA Games, set by Lynette Lim.
Speaking to The Straits Times, Gan reflected on her performance, saying: “I don’t think it has sunk in that much yet. The race was quite exhausting, I gave it my absolute all and couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.”
She added that she was not expecting to break the 800m freestyle national record and only found out on her way back from the pool.
“After how close I came in Paris, that definitely gave me a lot of motivation going into this race to be in the top eight,” she said.
“This being my first WCH final, coming 36 hours after the heats, I don’t want to set any expectations. I just want to do my best and work on the small details that were lacking from the heats.”
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