S’pore Athletics explains why Soh needs half-marathon or 10km to book SEA Games slot

He may have gone comfortably under the qualifying mark of 2hr 37min 10sec for next year’s South-east Asian (SEA) Games, with his personal best of 2:24.55 clocked at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

But Soh Rui Yong will still need to take part in either a 10km race or a half-marathon between January and May next year and clock times set by Singapore Athletics (SA) to seal his ticket to the Kuala Lumpur games.

According to SA’s 2017 SEA Games selection criteria, athletes who qualify for their events from Aug 1 to Dec 31 this year must do a “performance test” in any SA-sanctioned competition before the end of May 2017 to book their ticket to the SEA Games in August.

Athletes attempting Games’ qualification for the men’s marathon have to clock 1:12.30 for the half-marathon, or 32.57 for the 10km event in that period. The timings are set based on a calculation using IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) points.

SA vice-president (training and selection) Govindasamy Balasekaran told TODAY the new selection rule ensures that athletes are in prime condition for the Games. “Sometimes, after qualifying for the SEA Games, athletes don’t train for a long period, and when they go to the SEA Games, they are not fit enough,” he said.

“So we set that criteria because we want to make sure that the athletes we send to the Games are fit, in good shape, and injury-free by the time the Games come around.”

When asked how he felt about having to validate his SEA Games qualification through another event, Soh said: “I think it’s reasonable to ask for athletes to prove fitness. I’ll look for a race between January to May to do this.”

Balasekaran added that the SA will meet with Soh when he returns to Singapore to discuss his training plans.

“We will definitely help him to see how he can work and train at the same time. We want to look after him, and when he gets to Singapore, we will talk to him and SportSG, which is one of the best places to work in,” said Balasekaran. ADELENE WONG