Jing En the one to watch in breaststroke

SHAH ALAM: Kuala Lumpur girl Phee Jing En could be the next top breaststroke swimmer for Malaysia.

On Thursday, she erased one of the longest-standing records in the MSSM (national schools) swimming championships at the Darul Ehsan Aquatic Centre.

The 17-year-old clocked 2:42.73 to sink the 24-year-old meet record of 2:43.88 held by Jong Su Ting in the girls’ 16-18 200m breaststroke.

The record has existed since 1990 and not even the likes of current SEA Games gold medallist Christina Loh or her predecessor Siow Yi Ting were able to erase it.

Jing En made a clean sweep of all three gold medals in breaststroke, having come out tops in the 50m and 100m distances as well.

But this is not the first time Jing En has displayed her talent. Last June, she got the better of national swimmer Christina Loh in the 50m breaststroke at the 37th SEA Age group swimming competition.

Another long-standing record to fall on Thursday was the boys’ 16-18 50m freestyle that has stood since 1997.

Penang’s 17-year-old Alwyn Tan clocked 23.85 to erase Allen Ong’s record of 24.35, which he set in 1997 while swimming for Perak.

National swimmer Welson Sim, who also went under Allen’s record, had to settle for the silver with a time of 24.23.

Selangor swimmer Ng Yi Hao posted 2:27.14 to bring down the meet record of 2:28.50 held by Lau Zheng Fong of Perak since 2007 in the boys’ 13-15 200m breaststroke.

Yi Hao’s team-mate Nadia Adrianna Redza bagged her second individual medley titles by winning the 400m distance in the girls’ open category.

She had won the 200m distance on Wednesday.

Nadia clocked a winning time of 4:58.77 in the 400m individual medley, breaking Negri Sembilan swimmer Lew Yih Wey’s record of 5:06.31 set in 2005.

Selangor continues to lead the medal tally with 29-15-15, while Kuala Lumpur trails in second place with 20-26-13.