SEA Games 2017 Singapore swimmers begin their quest for gold

The Southeast Asian powerhouse took their swimming campaign off to a good start today with 3 Golds and 1 Silver in the first day of swimming competition at the 29th SEA Games. The Singapore contingent comprised of a mixture of crowd favourites such as Olympic Gold medalist Joseph Schooling and up and coming youngsters such as Quang Jing Wen.

Day 1 of swimming saw medalists being crowned in the following events: 

• Men's 50M Backstroke
• Women's 200M Butterfly
• Men's 400M Freestyle
• Women's 100M Backstroke
• Men's 50M Butterfly
• Women's 4x100M Freestyle Relay

Quah Zheng Wen lost his 50M backstroke title but won the silver medal to help Singapore achieve it's first swimming medal of the Games. Quah's timing of 25.39s was not enough to beat Indonesia's I Ge Siman Sudartawa's 25.20s. In addition to taking his title, Sudartawa's also broke Quah's SEA Games record timing which he had set at the previous SEA Games. Francis Fong finished 5th with a time of 26.10s.

In the Women's 200M Butterfly event, Quah Jing Wen won Singapore's first Gold medal for swimming in this year's Games, as well as her first Gold medal ever in the SEA Games. She broke Singapore's National record in the process with a timing of 2:12:03s. Her compatriot Nicholle Toh finished her race in 7th place with a time of 2:28:69s.

Both Pang Shen Jun and Hoong En Qi also came close to winning a medal with 4th place finishes in their events. Pang posted a time of 3:54:64, which also counted for a new National Record in the Men's 400M Freestyle Finals, while Hoong came in at 1:05:03s in the Women's 100M Backstroke.

Joseph Schooling successfuly defended his 50M butterfly title with a new SEA Games record of 23.06s. Schooling's win meant that this was his 10th successive individual SEA Games victory. The last time he had lost an individual race in the SEA Games was the 200M individual Medley in the 2011 SEA Games. Dylan Koo finished 6th with a time of 24.61s.

The final race of the night, the Women's 4x100M Freestyle Relay, was won by Singapore once again. The team of Quah Ting Wen, Amanda Lim, Quah Jing Wen and Natasha Ong set a timing of 3:44:38 and broke both the National Record and the SEA Games reord. They lead from the start and never looked back as they rounded off Singapore's night with the third goal in the swimming events.

Earlier in the day, Singapore had majority of its swimmers qualify from the heats to the finals.

Quah Zheng Wen finished first in his heats and will enter the finals in third place behind Indonesia's I Ge Siman Sudartawa and Vietnam's Paul Le Nguyen. Compatriot Francis Fong will also join Quah in the evening's finals of the Men's 50M backstroke as fifth overall, with a timing of 26.39s and 25.91s respectively.

Youngsters Quah Jing Wen and Nicholle Toh also gave a good account of themselves by qualifying for the finals of the Women's 200M Butterfly. Quah qualified with the fastest time of the heats at 2:14:30s, who was the only competitor in the heats to go under 2.15.00, while Nicholle Toh qualified with a time of 2:19:37s.

Pang Sheng Jun continued Singapore's strong momentum by qualifying for the Men's 400M Freestlye final with a time of 3:59:80s, while Hoong En Qi also qualified for the finals of the Women's 100M Backstroke with a time of 1:05:20s. Benedict Boon will miss out on the finals of the Men's 400M Freestyle where he came in ninth out of 11 competitors. Benedict also participated in the 10KM Open Water Swim three days earlier where he placed fifth in that event. 

Rounding off the morning's heats were Joseph Schooling and Dylan Long Hai Koo who will go into the Men's 50M Butterfly Finals in first and sixth place respectively later in the evening.

Photo's from the event

Joseph Schooling in action in the 50M Butterfly Finals. (Photo by AndrewJKTan/Team Nila) 

Joseph Schooling posing with his Gold medal from the Men's 50m Butterfly presented by Minister Grace Fu (Front row right) (Photo by Andy Chua/Team Nila) 

Joseph Schooling with his Gold medal from the Men's 50m Butterfly (Photo by Andy Chua/Team Nila)

Quah Zheng Wen wins Silver in the Mens 50M Backstroke Finals (Photo by AndrewJKTan/Team Nila)

Quah Jing Wen in action during the Women's 200M Butterfly event (Photo by Andy Chua/Team Nila)

Quah Jing Wen at the victory ceremony with President of Singapore's Swimming Association Lee Kok Choy (Front row left) and Minister Grace Fu (Front row right). (Photo by AndrewJKTan/Team Nila) 

Quah Jing Wen celebrating after winning Gold in the Women's 200M Butterfly Finals (Photo by AndrewJKTan/Team Nila)

Quah Ting Wen, Lim Xiang Qi Amanda, Quah Jing Wen, Natasha Ong Min Ern celebrating after their Women's 4x100m Freestyle relay race (Photo by Andy Chua/Team Nila)

Quah Ting Wen, Lim Xiang Qi Amanda, Quah Jing Wen, Natasha Ong Min Ern with their gold medal's from the Women's 4x100m Freestyle relay. (Photo by Andy Chua/Team Nila)

Singapore's Joseph Isaac Schooling swimming freestyle during warm ups before the start of the competitions. He tops the 50M Butterfly Men Preliminary Heats with time of 24.17sec (Photo by Dyan Tjhia/Team Nila)

Singapore's Quah Jing Wen (left) tops the 200M Butterfly Women Preliminary Heats with time of 2:14:30 and advance to the finals. Nicholle Toh Fann Rui (Right) who finshes in 2:19: 37 (Photo by Dyan Tjhia/Team Nila)

Singapore's Dylan Koo Long Hai qualifies for finals after he finished the 50M Butterfly Men Preliminary Heats with time of 24.68sec (Photo by Dyan Tjhia/Team Nila)

Singapore's En Qi Hoong qualifies for finals after she finished 2nd on the 100M Backstroke Women Preliminary Heats with time of 1:05:25 (Photo by Dyan Tjhia/Team Nila)