Shanti equals national 200m record

SINGAPORE- Sprinter Shanti Pereira clocked 24.54sec in the 200m heats of the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) World Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine on Friday.

The Republic Polytechnic student finished third in her heat to qualify for Saturday’s semi-finals, finishing just behind Trinidad’s Kayelle Clarke (24.42) and Veronika Palickova (24.43) of the Czech Republic respectively. Her time also equaled the 29-year-old national record set by Prema Govindran in 1984.

Shanti’s 200m performance comes just two days after the 16-year-old bettered the 100m record at the World Youth Championships to become the first Singaporean female to go under 12sec in the century sprint. The women’s 200m semi-finals will begin at 10.45pm, Singapore time, on Saturday.