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Deja vu as Quah Zheng Wen misses out in 200m butterfly heat

BUDAPEST — With water still dripping from his tousled hair, national swimmer Quah Zheng Wen stood in the mixed media zone at the Duna Arena on Tuesday (July 25), staring intently at the television to see whether his 200m butterfly heat time of 1min 56.76sec was enough to make the top 16 at the Fina World Championships.

Quah Zheng Wen had looked poised for a good finish as he went into the final 50m in third spot. But he faltered in the final stretch, touching the wall in 1:56.76 to finish fifth. Photo: REUTERS

Quah Zheng Wen had looked poised for a good finish as he went into the final 50m in third spot. But he faltered in the final stretch, touching the wall in 1:56.76 to finish fifth. Photo: REUTERS

BUDAPEST — With water still dripping from his tousled hair, national swimmer Quah Zheng Wen stood in the mixed media zone at the Duna Arena on Tuesday (July 25), staring intently at the television to see whether his 200m butterfly heat time of 1min 56.76sec was enough to make the top 16 at the Fina World Championships.

Unfortunately, it turned out into a case of deja vu for the 20-year-old. 

As results from the last two heats came in, Quah, who competed in Heat 3, found himself missing out on a semi-final again after finishing 18th overall — just two places and 0.05sec away from the slowest qualifier. 

Just a day earlier, he failed to advance into the 100m backstroke semis after placing 18th overall in the heats, but vowed to bounce back in his pet event, the 200m fly. 

The disappointment was clearly too much for the young swimmer, who had to take time out to cool off before sending his replies to the Singaporean media via the team’s media manager.

“I am disappointed especially to miss out on the semis for the 200m fly,” said Quah, who had qualified for the semi-finals at the Rio Olympics in the same event. 

“I expected to do well and my target was to make the top 16. There is nothing more I can do but to forget about what has happened.”

Quah had looked poised for a good finish as he went into the final 50m in third spot. But he faltered in the final stretch, touching the wall in 1:56.76 to finish fifth. 

Rio Olympics bronze medallist Tamas Kenderesi was first in 1:55.96, while American Jack Conger (1:56.00) and David Morgan of Australia (1:56.57) were second and third respectively.

Defending champion and home favourite Laszlo Cseh (1:54.08), Daiya Seto of Japan (1:54.89), and Denmark’s Viktor B Bromer (1:55.13) eventually ranked the top three after the heats. 

Quah added: “In terms of execution of the race, it was how I wanted it to be. My splits were good but I just didn’t get it right at the end.

“I felt quite strong the whole way through I feel like I could have gone harder. I was definitely gunning to be among the top three ... I was surprised to see my placing. 

“At the 150m mark, I glanced over underwater and saw myself right with those guys. So I had a pretty good idea where I was during the race so I was kind of surprised.” 

It has been a mixed campaign for Singapore’s swimmers in Hungary so far. While Olympic champion Joseph Schooling broke the Asian and national record twice in the 50m butterfly heats and semis, he finished fifth in the final.

Ahead of the world meet, Quah had set a goal of making a final in at least one of his five events. 

He had tipped the 200m fly as the best race to achieve his target, but will now have to regroup for his next three events — the 200m backstroke, 100m fly, and 50m backstroke.  

He will get a day’s rest before competing in the 200m backstroke heats on Thursday. He vowed on Tuesday: “I still have three events and I am sure I will learn from this and will get better in the next few days.”

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