3 Singapore athletics records broken at Taiwan open

Singapore's track and field athletes ended the two-day Taiwan Open on a high note yesterday when they broke three national records in Taipei.

Dipna Lim-Prasad made it two national records in two days when she set a new 400m hurdles mark.

The 24-year-old timed 59.59sec in the heats to qualify for the final, lowering her previous mark of 59.86 set in March. She sat out the final due to injury.

Lim-Prasad was also part of a quartet who set a national 4x100m record of 46.44 in the Open heats on Friday.

However, that record was broken in yesterday's final, as Wendy Enn, Shanti Pereira, Smriti Menon and Eugenia Tan - who replaced Lim-Prasad - crossed the line in 46.18, finishing third behind winners Thailand (45.12) and Indonesia (45.58).

The SEA Games bronze mark stands at 45.88.

On her achievement, Lim-Prasad, who won bronze in the 400m hurdles at the last Games, said: "Before this week, I hadn't hurdled in seven weeks so I was not confident going into the race.

"I just hoped to run close to my personal best.

"I'm very grateful I managed this time and I thank my coach, loved ones and sponsors for believing in me."

Pole vaulter Rachel Yang also set a national record when she cleared 3.85m yesterday, eclipsing her previous mark of 3.83m.

All three records are pending ratification by Singapore Athletics.

Yang finished fourth, ahead of the Philippines' Riezel Buenaventura.

The latter was third at the last Games with a 3.80m effort.

Said Yang: "I've just switched to a new pole, and this is my first time competing with it, so the record was a real surprise.

"I was just trying to get used to the stiffness and the higher grip.

"The coming SEA Games will be very tough.

"I suspect you need 4m to get bronze so it's back to training hard and, hopefully, I can achieve another personal best at home."

siangyee@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on May 17, 2015.
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