Two days, two records for Faith

Apr 22, 2017 06:00 am

On Thursday, Faith Elizabeth Khoo rewrote her own national women's 50m backstroke national Under-14 mark of 30.26sec, when she clocked 30.03 as the lead swimmer in the 200m medley relay.

Yesterday, the 13-year-old Raffles Girls' School (RGS) student lowered that mark again, with a 29.78sec to win the event on the last day of the 58th National School Swim Championships at the OCBC Aquatic Centre.

"I was actually expecting a personal best," said Faith, who trains nine times a week at the Singapore Swimming Club (SSC).

"I kept jumping around and swinging my arms before the race to keep my heart rate up, which helped in the result."

Her mother, Serena, showed far more excitement.

A former RGS student and SSC swimmer herself, Serena was over the moon when Faith and her sister Ashley, who is also an RGS swimmer, decided to stick with the sport, after also trying out badminton, tennis and triathlon.

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Serena spent an estimated $20,000 on the duo's swimming ambitions, inclusive of her travel expenses to support them in overseas swim meets in Hawaii and Tokyo.

Said the 45-year-old corporate lawyer: "It's worth it.

"(As a parent,) it's about capturing all the moments you can, whether they win or not."

Two other age-group national records fell yesterday.

Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)'s Zachary Ian Tan clocked 2min 19.27sec to win the men's 200m breaststroke and rewrite his U-14 national mark of 2:21.53, set in the event's heats on Wednesday.

Also, Methodist Girls School's Gan Ching Hwee broke Christel Bouvron's 20-year-old U-14 women's 100m freestyle mark of 58.52, with a 58.44 effort to win the event yesterday.