SEA Games 2025: Singapore's Letitia Sim is first to seal hat-trick of breaststroke titles

BANGKOK — It was a case of third time lucky for Singapore's Letitia Sim, who won the women's 200m breaststroke final on Dec 14 to become the first swimmer to complete the SEA Games hat-trick in her stroke.

In doing so, she also underlined her status as South-east Asia's queen of breaststroke.

No one has achieved the feat since the 50m event was added to the programme in 2011. Sim had missed out in 2023 and 2022, when she finished second in the 50m and 200m respectively.

But the 22-year-old has come of age since, improving on her speed and stamina, as she touched the wall first at the Huamark Aquatic Centre in a Games record 2min 27.37sec. Thailand's Pimchanok Chinveeraphan (2:31.50) was second, with Indonesia's Adellia (2:32.50) third.

She said: "This means a lot. It showed the progress that I made throughout the past two SEA Games. I was extremely nervous for this event compared to the other ones because it's definitely one of the tougher races for me mentally and physically because you are just constantly doing it.

"My coach was saying switching from short course (which she competes in, in the United States) to long course, it's almost tripling the amount of strokes, and it's a lot more taxing. It hurt a lot, I was so tired after that, and it's also the accumulation of the meet thus far taking a huge toll on my body."

What made her achievement all the more impressive was that it came on the fifth day of the swimming competition, when she had already won the 50m and 100m titles, the former in a Games record time (31.03), as well as the 200m individual medley in a national record of 2:13.42.

Sim, who also struggled with suspected food poisoning during the Games, said: "It feels really good, (the sweep) is definitely something that I could have done in the past two SEA Games, but it just didn't really come together, and it did here."

After conquering South-east Asia, she is eyeing a medal at the 2026 Asian Games. At the Hangzhou Games in 2023, she agonisingly finished fourth in the women's 100m and 200m breaststroke and 4x100m medley.

She said: "I just need to get on that podium. Oh my gosh, there's so many times I missed that, and I just want to win some hardware for Team Singapore. It's really tough for my events, but I feel like I'm able to do it."

Sim's gold was one of four won by Singapore on the penultimate day of swimming in Bangkok.

In her only event at this meet, Amanda Lim rolled back the years to regain the women's 50m freestyle title in a Games-record 25.03sec in a stacked field that included Olympic medallist Kayla Sanchez (25.15) and fellow Filipina Heather White (25.38), who kept Singapore's defending champion Quah Ting Wen (25.42) out of the podium.

It was the 32-year-old's seventh victory in the event in 10 editions, and her first since 2019.

Then, Teong Tzen Wei also regained the men's 50m butterfly crown in 23.24sec to help the Republic extend their perfect winning record in this event since it was added to the Games in 2011. Quah Zheng Wen (23.57) and the Philippines' Logan Noguchi (23.97) were second and third respectively.

The 28-year-old, who last won the event in 2022, said: "I'm really pleased with my result, this helps me qualify for next year's Asian Games and Commonwealth Games so I'll live in the moment right now, and tomorrow it's back to how I can represent Singapore at a bigger stage and swim better times for the nation again."

In the men's 200m breaststroke, Vietnam's defending champion Pham Thanh Bao retained his title in 2:12.81, ahead of Singapore's Chan Chun Ho (2:14.82) and Maximillian Ang (2:15.56).

Chan was neck and neck with the Vietnamese at the 150m mark before losing steam.The 21-year-old said: "I think it's my best performance here so far. I put myself out there, and I was like, 'Don't let him get away.'

"He did though but it's fine. I'll take what I can get, but this is definitely fuelling me for the 50 breast tomorrow, where I finally get a chance to just rip it and just see where I'm at."

There was a major shock in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay, when Singapore - champions since 2009 - finished out of the top three for the first time since 1997.

Despite Gan Ching Hwee getting the team off to a great start with a national and Games-record 1:59.10 in her opening split, Victoria Lim, Ashley Lim and Quah Jing Wen could not keep up as they finished fourth in 8:14.76, behind champions Thailand (8:10.10), the Philippines (8:11.55) and Vietnam (8:14.22).

But the Republic wrapped up the night with a gold in the men's 4x100m freestyle as Jonathan Tan, Mikkel Lee, Ardi Azman and Zheng Wen retained the title in a Games-record 3:16.65, ahead of Vietnam (3:20.01) and Malaysia (3:20.87).

Zheng Wen, 29, said: "We have been up and down on the relays these past few days for the men and women, so for us to come out here, get a meet record and throw it down for Team Singapore, we are super happy with that and I'm super proud of these guys."

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.