SINGAPORE: Days after celebrating her 22nd birthday, there were more reasons for cheer for Singapore’s Gan Ching Hwee as she smashed a 15-year national record on home soil at the World Aquatics Championships.
Gan, who is the current national record holder in the 800m and 1500m freestyle events, clocked a time of 4:09.81 in the women’s 400m freestyle on Sunday (Jul 27).
This eclipses Lynette Lim’s national mark of 4:11.24, set at the December 2009 SEA Games.
She had come into the event with an entry time of 4:12.31.
Gan finished first in her heat and finished 13th overall. United States’ Katie Ledecky topped the four heats with a time of 4:01.04.
“I was very pleasantly surprised that I went below my best time by that much,” Gan told reporters.
“Past a certain age, my best times have only been incrementally getting better.
“Especially the 400m, which has been quite a challenging event for me. I don’t think I’ve made a massive breakthrough in the past few years.”
