Birthday Boy Maximillian Lowers Own National Record and Seals SEA Games Spot

SINGAPORE, 20 March 2021- Having just turned 20 a day ago, Maximillian Ang from Aquatic Masters Swim Club (AMSC) gave himself the best belated birthday present when he lowered his own National Record in the Men’s 200m Breaststroke and qualify for the SEA Games in Hanoi later this year, as well as earning himself an Olympic Games “B” mark on the penultimate day of competition at the Liberty Insurance 51st SNAG Major Games Qualifier on Saturday.
 
The breaststroke specialist was imperious as he blitzed the rest of the pack on the way to victory, clocking a time of 2:13.68s to touch the wall first, ahead of Terence Ong from Aquatic Performance Swim Club (APSC), who clocked 2:21.70s to finish second and Gabriel Ng from Olympia Swimming Club (OSC), who clocked 2:23.08s to finish third.
 
His time today was good enough to better the existing National Record of 2:13.96s that he set in 2019 at the SEA Games in Philippines.
 
“There is no 100% but doing my best is the most important. It is always good to break your personal best and national record, so I feel happy about it. I want to continue to aspire the younger ones and encourage them to do their best”, said Maximillian

“I was happy when I saw I did my personal best, although I felt like I could have done a lot better. When I touched the wall at the very end of the race, I thought that I did a much faster timing. It was not up to my expectations but small improvements is all that matters and eventually I will achieve my goal. An improvement is still an improvement so I am really happy for it. I will continue training hard in the lead up to the next competitions”, he added.
 
With qualification to the SEA Games in the bag, Ang has eyes on the main prize. He said, “At the previous SEA games, I really wanted a gold medal so the next SEA games, my goal is to get the gold medal and give my best in my events.”
 
Two other swimmers who met the Olympic Games “B” cut today were rising stars Gan Ching Hwee of Swimfast Aquatic Club (SAC) and Glen Lim of AquaTech Swimming (ATS), with both having dominant swims in their respective 400m Freestyle finals. Gan touched home first in a time of 4:14.53s in the Women’s final, ahead of Singapore Swimming Club’s (SSC) Ashley Lim (4:25.25s) and Nexus International School’s (NEXUS), Paloma Canos Cervera (4:27.29s).
 
Glen, who holds the National Record in the event, clocked a time of 3:53.23s for the victory, with Ardi Azman of Aquarian Aquatic School (AAS) finishing second in 4:01.63s, and Jack Cassin of NEXUS clinching third in 4:04.36s.
Also sealing their places at Hanoi were defending champions in the Men’s and Women’s 50m Butterfly and Women’s 200m Breaststroke- Teong Tzen Wei, Quah Ting Wen and Christie May Chue.
 
Chinese Swimming Club’s (CSC) Chue, the current national record holder for the Women’s 200m Breaststroke, touched the wall first in a time of 2:30.44s. Sarah Bernard of Swimfast Aquatic Club (SAC) was second in 2:39.43s. Alicia Soosai, also from SAC, was third in 2:41.38s.
 
SAC’s Quah saw her winning time 27.07s in the final good enough to go below the 27.09s SEA Games “A” cut for the Women’s 50m Butterfly. ACE Swim Club’s (ACE) Nicholle Toh was second in 27.70s and Marina Chan of Chinese Swimming Club finished third in 27.89s.
 
Teong, 23, who pipped Joseph Schooling to the 50m Butterfly gold in Philippines, sprinted to victory in a time of 23.46s. Mikkel Lee from CSC was second in 24.04s, and Motohide Mori of Aquatic Performance Swim Club (APSC) finishing third in 24.28s.
 
“I feel quite good about my timing today. It is a new personal best, so I am really happy”, said the ATS swimmer.
 
He added, “The race today showed me that I can go faster, and I just want to work harder to post a better time. Sometimes, it is not really about the position that you get but it is more of self-improvement and becoming the best version of yourself you can meet. So that is what I am trying to do, I was quite pleased to see that I managed to better my time from previous performance, which was in 2019.”
 
As for Olympic Games qualification, he said, “I was initially planning for the 100m butterfly, but I guess that's out for now. I have another shot tomorrow in the 50m freestyle. For that event, sometimes the stars got to align. That will be my short-term goal for tomorrow. Looking forward, we still have the Singapore National Swimming Championships in June, to have another shot at the same events that I am taking part in. I am just looking to learn from these few races and take it into the next 2 months of training and hopefully do better there.”