Trio Qualify For SEA Games, But Still Aiming For The Olympics

SINGAPORE, 17 MARCH 2021- The Liberty Insurance 51^st SNAG Major Games Qualifier got underway at the OCBC Aquatic Centre on Wednesday, 17^th March, as Singapore’s top swimmers embarked on their quest for qualification for the year’s upcoming major games.
 
The Liberty Insurance 51^st SNAG Major Games Qualifier serves as a qualifying meet for the Olympic Games, SEA Games, Asian Youth Games, FINA World Championships (Short-Course) 2021 and FINA World Championships 2022.
 
This was the first fully tapered meet for the national swimmers, with the last tapered meet coming more than a year ago at the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines.
 
Taking full advantage of that was the trio of freestyle specialists, Jonathan Tan and Darren Chua of AquaTech Swimming (ATS) and Mikkel Lee of Chinese Swimming Club (CSC), who all met the qualifying mark for the upcoming SEA Games in Hanoi later this year, in the Men’s 100m Freestyle, but all three swimmers still had their eyes set on the biggest prize- the Olympic Games.
 
The trio finished 1-2-3 in the 100m Freestyle final, with Tan clocking 49.69s to take first place, Chua coming in second in 49.92s and Lee touching home third in 50.10s. Chua’s time was enough to meet the SEA Games qualifying mark of 50:08s, after both Tan and Lee had qualified in the morning heats with times of 49.75s and 50.01s respectively. Both Tan and Chua also made the Olympic Games ‘B’ Cut timing of 50.03s.
 
“I think we were all looking to make the Olympic “A” cuts first as that is the main priority that we are trying to hit right now, and we are not really thinking much about the SEA Games”, said 21-year-old Temasek Polytechnic student Chua.
 
“For me, it was a good opportunity to race especially in this whole Covid situation. Like what Darren said, the goal is the 2021 Olympics and qualifying for the SEA Games is an additional start point”, added Lee, 19.
 
Also meeting the Olympic Games “B” cut was butterfly specialist, Ong Jung Yi of CSC. Having narrowly missed out at December’s Singapore National Olympic Qualifiers, the 20-year-old stormed to victory in the 200m Butterfly final with a time of 1:58.71s, shaving almost 4s from his heats time of 2:02.14s. Ong’s time saw him also qualify for the SEA Games. Ephraim Tan of Aquatic Performance Swim Club (APSC) was second in 2:00.60s and Owen Allwood of UWCSEA-East was third in 2:05.58s.
 
The final swimmer to make the Olympic Games ‘B’ cut on day 1 was Christie May Chue, 21, also from CSC. Christie, who is bound for Florida International University in August, clocked a time of 55.89s to finish second in the Women’s 100m Freestyle final. She finished behind Carmen Weiler Sastre of Nexus Swim Team, who clocked 55.10s, and ahead of Cherlyn Yeoh from ATS, who was third in 56.08s.  Two-time Olympian, Quah Ting Wen, of Swimfast Aquatic Club (SAC) finished 4^th in a time of 56.30s.
 
Rising long distance specialists, Glen Lim, 19, of ATS and Gan Ching Hwee, 18, of SAC both won their respective 800m Freestyle events. Lim touched the wall first in a time of 8:11.98s, with Ardi Azman of Aquarian Aquatic School (AAS) second in 8:25.02s and Jack Cassin from Nexus Swim Team was third in 8:25.30s.
 
Gan led from start to finish to win her race in 8:50.51s, meeting the SEA Games “B” mark, ahead of Chantal Liew of Singapore Swimming Club (SSC) and Candice Ang of APSC. Liew was second in a time of 9:16.14s, while Ang was third in 9:18.92s.
 
Due to COVID-19 restrictions put in place by the Singapore authorities, this year’s Liberty Insurance 51^st SNAG (Major Games Qualifiers) will be a scaled down event, featuring only the top 48 invited swimmers per gender per event for all 50m, 100m and 200m events, and the top 24 invited swimmers per gender per event for all 400m, 800m and 1500m events.
 
With the event a closed-door event, fans can catch the live streaming on the Liberty Insurance Singapore website at www.libertyinsurance.com.sg/libertysnag51.
 
Fans can also be part of the zoom engagement party and take part in exciting fun activities. Full list of results and event information can be found in the link.