SEA Games: Singapore wins women's 4x100m freestyle relay in new Games record

KUALA LUMPUR — The Singapore team of Quah Ting Wen, Amanda Lim, Natasha Ong, and Quah Jing Wen not only successfully defended their SEA Games women's 4x100m freestyle relay title at the National Aquatic Centre in Kuala Lumpur on Monday night (Aug 21), they did it in style - by setting a new SEA Games and national record.

The quartet led from start to finish to touch the wall in 3min 44.38s, breaking the eight-year-old mark of 3:45.73 which Singapore had also set back in 2009 at the SEA Games in Vientiane, Laos.

Singapore's decision to start off with its two fastest swimmers, Ting Wen and Amanda Lim, paid off as the duo combined to give the Republic a body length's lead before Natasha Ong dived in.

She went on to extend in by another half body length before Jing Wen went into action in the anchor leg.

In the end, Singapore finished more than two seconds faster than nearest rivals Thailand who took silver in 3:46.46. Indonesia were third in 3:50.56.

"Actually, we didn't go into the event thinking of the SEA Games record," admitted Lim. "It's partly because it's a new relay team with two new fresh faces (Ong and Jing Wen). So to break the SEA Games mark was a pleasant surprise."

This was also Jing Wen's second gold medal of the night.

Earlier in the evening, she won Singapore's first gold medal in swimming at the SEA Games when she triumphed in the 200m butterfly in a new national record time.

Singapore ended the first day of competition with three golds - from Jing Wen, Joseph Schooling (50m butterfly) and the 4x100m freestyle relay quartet - and one silver (quah Zheng Wen in the 50m backstroke)