PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s Khiew Hoe Yean enjoyed the satisfaction of winning a swimming heat and emerging as the top finisher from South-East Asia at the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest.
Hoe Yean clocked 1:48.37 to win heat 4 in the men’s 200m freestyle yesterday.
He was ranked in the top five at that time but with the stronger swimmers qualifying later, he eventually finished 25th overall.
Only the top 16 swimmers go through to the semi-finals.
Hoe Yean, who won the gold in this event at the Hanoi SEA Games last month, did not come close to breaking Welson Sim’s national record of 1:47.36 set back in 2017 but he had the satisfaction of finishing ahead of Singapore’s Glen Lim Jun Wei (35th, 1:49.94) and Vietnam’s Hoang Quy Phuoc (44th, 1:52.47).
Hoe Yean had made a superb start to his world meet campaign when he smashed Welson’s national record in the 400m freestyle on Saturday.
The Kuala Lumpur-born swimmer clocked 3:48.72 to finish 15th overall in the heats to erase the national record of 3:49.29 set by Welson in Australia in 2019.
Hoe Yean will be back in action on Wednesday in the men’s 200m backstroke.
Meanwhile, 19-year-old Goh Chia Tong capped her debut swim in the world meet by finishing 25th in the women’s 1,500m freestyle heats in 17:33.03.
