Three back-to-back races, three golds for Ting Wen

Swim star emerges triumphant in three back-to-back races for the first time in her career

Sports Correspondent

Aug 24, 2017 06:00 am

Despite her wealth of experience, it is not uncommon for swimmer Quah Ting Wen to have butterflies in her stomach before her races.

It means that the races really meant a lot to her, she would say.

Last night was a different story for the 25-year-old at the National Aquatic Centre in Kuala Lumpur, though.

"It's the longest four hours I've had in a while... today's kind of been on my mind a lot because I have never done three races back-to-back before," she said after her last race.

The 2008 and 2016 Olympian competed in all three women's events last night - the 100m freestyle, 50m butterfly and the 4x200m freestyle relay with younger sister Jing Wen, Rachel Tseng and Christie Chue.

And she won them all.

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The Singaporean sprinted to the 100m free gold with a new Games record of 55.74 seconds, just ahead of Vietnam's Nguyen Thi Anh Vien (55.76) and the Philippines' Jasmine Alkhaldi (55.90).

Quah said: "I would definitely say that I was most nervous for the 100m free just because it was the first of three events.

"I came into the night really nervous, kind of overwhelmed by all the events.

"Getting the 100m free out of the way was a major relief."

She then returned to the pool to win the 50m fly in 26.83, ahead of Thailand's Jenjira Srisa-ard (26.94) and Alkhaldi (27.27), before taking the plunge for the final time in the relay.

Singapore were second, marginally behind Thailand, when Quah took over from lead swimmer Christie, 17, in the relay, but the former put the Republic ahead almost immediately.

It was an advantage that the Singaporeans did not relinquish, with Rachel and anchor swimmer Jing Wen extending the lead to give the team a resounding victory with a new Games record of 8min 10.41sec.

Thailand were second with 8:16.17, while the Philippines took the bronze with 8:18.58.

Rachel, 19, said: "The Games record wasn't on our minds; we just wanted to do a good race."

Quah's brother Zheng Wen also experienced the winning feeling last night, when he won the men's 200m backstroke in a new Games record of 2:00.09.

Teammate Francis Fong clinched a silver with 2:00.49 while Indonesia's Ricky Anggawidjaja (2:02.76) was third.

Straight after his race, Zheng Wen said: "If you could feel what I am feeling right now... I don't think you'd be doing backstroke.

"(But) I will be doing backstroke for a while more, for sure."

Singapore opened the night with a victory from reigning Olympic 100m butterfly champion Joseph Schooling, who won his pet event with a Games record of 51.38.

Indonesia's Triady Fauzi Sidiq (53.03) and his teammate Glenn Victor Sutanto (53.25) were the other two medallists in that event.

Schooling, 22, said: "Right now, I am three for three, and the goal is to try to win all my (six) events.

"The race (tonight) was fine; I am a little tired definitely, it felt a little more tiring than I thought it would.

"The most important thing is to get my hand on the wall first, try to set a new Games record and I am very pleased that I could do both of those things."