Calm before the storm: Khiew Hoe Yean posing for a photograph ahead of the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest.
PETALING JAYA: Malaysian swimmer Khiew Hoe Yean will bring home sweet memories from his second trip to Budapest after a record-breaking start to his World Aquatics Championships campaign.
The 20-year-old clocked a superb 3:48.72 to finish second in Heat 2 of the men’s 400m freestyle event at the National Aquatics Complex behind South Korea’s Kim Woo-min (3:45.87) yesterday.
But more importantly, his effort saw him wipe off Welson Sim’s national record of 3:49.29, which the Olympian swimmer set in the New South Wales Open in Australia back in 2019.
Hoe Yean has affirmed his place as the top swimmer for Malaysia as he now holds the 400m and 800m freestyle as well as the 200m backstroke national marks.
Hoe Yean placed 15th overall out of 43 swimmers and did not advance further as only the top eight qualify for the final in the evening.
But he can hold his head high with his latest performance.
The Kuala Lumpur-born swimmer finished better than Vietnam’s Nguyen Huy Hoang, who won the event when his country hosted the SEA Games last month.
Nguyen clocked 3:54.05 for 26th spot yesterday. At the Hanoi SEA Games, he clocked a Vietnam national record time of 3:48.06 to beat Hoe Yean, who posted 3:52.03, to the gold.
Hoe Yean still managed to return with a gold medal after he won the 200m backstroke event a few days later in Hanoi.
“I didn’t think of breaking records. I was only focusing on doing everything right to swim well.
“It’s nice to break the record (belonging to Welson) though.
“I came here before for the World Junior Championships in 2017,” said Hoe Yean, who is set to swim for Malaysia at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games end of next month.
Hoe Yean has also qualified on merit for the B category (top six) for the Hangzhou Asian Games. His time would have ranked him fifth at the last Asian Games in Indonesia in 2018.
Hoe Yean will return today for the 200m freestyle while Goh Chia Tong will race in the women’s 1,500m freestyle.
Tokyo Olympian swimmer Phee Jinq En was also scheduled to swim in the women’s 100m breaststroke today but has pulled out after testing positive for Covid-19.
