Para swimmers clinch 3 medals at inaugural Singapore leg of World Series
SINGAPORE — Singapore’s para swimmers finished with one gold and two silvers at the inaugural Singapore leg of the World Para Swimming (WPS) World Series, which took place at the OCBC Aquatic Centre from Friday (10 May) to Sunday.
Toh Wei Soong clinched the sole gold medal in the men’s 100m freestyle on Friday, and added a silver in the 50m butterfly on Sunday. Singapore’s Paralympic gold medallist Yip Pin Xiu also won a silver medal in the women’s 50m backstroke on the final day of competition.
Under the unique scoring system of the World Para Series, swimmers of different disability categories race together, and points are awarded according to their race timings with respect to the world records of their own categories.
As such, Toh and Yip were essentially racing on his own, instead of against the other swimmers in the finals.
“In such a competition, you can't look at your competitors and think that you're going to come in faster than them. What matters is your points, so you have to swim against yourself,” Toh said.
“You just have to tell yourself, ‘You’ve done this race hundreds of times’ and then go in relaxed and just execute what you have been doing right in your career.”
The 20-year-old amassed 944 points in his 100m free final with a time of 1min 3.60sec, edging out Uzbekistan’s Islam Aslanov (940 points) and veteran Paralympian Cameron Leslie of New Zealand (923 points) for the gold medal.
In Sunday’s 50m butterfly race, Toh clocked 32.40sec to finish with 896 points, sandwiched between China's Wang Jingang (988 points) and Russia's Andrei Granichka (841 points).
Yip scored 859 points in her 50m backstroke race with a time of 1:05.29, finishing behind Turkey's Sumeyye Boyaci (902 points) and ahead of Japan's Mayumi Narita (837 points).
Yet, after finishing eighth in the 100m backstroke on Friday, the 27-year-old felt that she needs to focus on improving her ability to do 100m race, ahead of preparations for September’s World Championships in London.
The Singapore leg of the World Series closed with 12 records broken – four World records, five Asian records, two Oceania records and one Pan-American record.
Three of the world records were broken by New Zealand’s Sophie Pascoe, including an 11-year-old record in the women’s 200m individual medley (SM9), previously held by Natalie du Toit of South Africa.
Other Singapore stories:
First My Melody Run at Sentosa attended by 5,000 participants
OCBC Cycle 2019 sees 6,800-odd cyclists enjoying day out on their bikes
Winner-takes-all Game 5 situation for Slingers, after heavy Game 4 loss in Surabaya
