Kevin Breaks Own Record En Route To 1,500m Gold

KUALA LUMPUR: Kevin Yeap Soon Choy continued to make big strides, improving on his own meet record by eight seconds in the 1,500m freestyle en route to bagging a second Malaysian Open swimming gold medal at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil.

The 21-year-old Kevin, the only representative from Perak, completed the 30-lap freestyle race in 15:32.51 to smash his previous mark of 15:52.84 set last year.


Kevin led from start to finish and, in the process, dipped under the Olympic invitational time of 15:43.74 for the second time this year.

Kevin, who won the SEA Games gold in the 400m freestyle in Indonesia last November, went under the Olympic qualifying standard for the first time when he posted 15:40.54 at the Singapore national age-group meet in March.

Kevin is the only Malaysian male swimmer to have reached Olympic standard so far and he was delighted with his progress.

“I can see that I have improved a lot. I cut 12 seconds off my personal best in Singapore and now I’ve gone faster by another eight seconds.

“I aim to train harder as I want to improve on my time to stand a better chance of making it to my first Olympics in London.

“I will return to training tomorrow as there’s one more competition – the South-East Asian Aquatics Championships – coming up. It’s the final qualifying meet for the Olympics,” said Kevin, who bagged his first gold medal in the 400m freestyle on Saturday.

Khoo Cai Lin also dipped under the Olympic invitational time for the women’s 800m freestyle yesterday.

Cai Lin registered 8:49.98 for her first Malaysian Open gold medal. It was the second time she had bettered the Olympic time of 8:51.52 for the event since the qualifying process started in March last year.

Former national swimmer Chui Lai Kwan was the third local swimmer to taste victory.

Lai Kwan, who quit the national squad before the SEA Games last year, tied with Enny Margono of Indonesia after both posted 26.32 in the women’s 50m freestyle final.

Results (All finals)
Men
50m freestyle: 1. Khade Virdhawal (Ind) 23.08, 2. Fauzi Triady (Ina) 23.46, 3. Yan Ho Chun (Hkg) 23.57.
100m butterfly: 1. Glenn Victor Sutanto (Ina) 53.65, 2. Fauzi Triady (Ina) 54.66, 3. Derick Ng (Hkg) 56.11.
1500m freestyle: 1. Kevin Yeap (Prk) 15:32.51 (meet rec), 2. Vernon Lee (Swk) 15:51.27, 3. Sangvekar Saurabh (Ind) 15:56.30.
200m backstroke: 1. Quah Zheng Wen (Sin) 2:02.97 (meet rec), 2. Gede Sudartawa (Ina) 2:06.19, 3. Tern Jian Han (Joh) 2:08.16.

Women
50m freestyle: 1. Chui Lai Kwan (Sab) and Enny Margono (Ina) 26.32, 3. Winsnes Annika (Sel) 26.75.
100m butterfly: 1. Wong Yee Ching (Hkg) 1:02.33, 2. Marellyn Liew (Sab) 1:03.48, 3. Lorenza Monaliza (Ina) 1:04.02.
200m backstroke: 1. Yessy Yosaputra (Ina) 2:20.17, 2. Jasmine Tong (Aus) 2:27.33, 3. Tan Rou Ying (Kul) 2:31.51.
800m freestyle: 1. Khoo Cai Lin (Sel) 8:49.98, 2. Grahana Raina Saumi (Ina) 9:02.16, 3. Natasha Tang (Hkg) 9:05.24.