WITH three Malaysia Games (Sukma) gold medals around his neck, Federal Territories‘ long-distance runner Kristian Tung (pic) is feeling on top of the world – and wants to stay there, by winning even more medals.
After bagging 10,000m and 1,500m gold on Monday, the 20-year-old Loughborough University student annihilated his opponents in the 5,000m by clocking a time of 15:20.50, seven seconds faster than Perak’s Shawn Roshan Singh from Perak (15.27.37) at the Sarawak Stadium in Petra Jaya yesterday.
Shawn’s teammate Mohd Farooq Mohd Zubair Kanan came in third (15:30.45).
Kristian was behind pacesetter G. Mathan Raj from Selangor for the first seven laps but then took off on his own and stayed well in front until the end of the 13-lap race.
“I didn’t think of my timing. I race to win medals. I think this is what the sport is all about. It is all about the medals. If you can get a SEA Games medal, no one cares about the time.
“People do not remember the time, people remember who won. If I can just keep doing that, hopefully, I will win something big in the future,” said Kristian whose personal best for the 5,000m is 14:31.56, which he recorded in the Wimbledon 5K Festival Night on Aug 3.
As he finished the race yesterday, he put up three fingers to show that he was a triple champion, and the long distance king of Sarawak Games.
“It is a dream come true because I have been running since young,” said the boy from Kepong.
“When I was younger, I would get in the top 20 in the National Schools Sports Council (MSSM) cross-country, but never close to winning.
“Over the years I just kept training hard. It is good to finally show that the hard work has paid off.”
Kristian said he would love to bring down the 5,000m and 10,000m national records now held by former national long-distance runner M. Ramachandran.
“Now, I will rest for five to six days, eat some nice food and enjoy being in Malaysia. Then I will prepare for the road and cross-country season in England (in April next year),” said Kristian, who will leave for England next month.
“I hope to run a fast 10km and break the 30 minutes mark. Hopefully, it would get me to the Asian Championships.
“I will try to attack Ramachandran’s records in the 5,000m (14:06.84) and 10,000m (29:30.19) next year.
“After the Covid-19 pandemic, I took a step up in training, I started running 130km a week. Every year, steadily, I took 30 seconds off my 5km, and now I have the second-best time in Malaysia. Only one place to go before I’m number one.”
