PETALING JAYA: It still has not sunk in yet for swimmer Tan Rouxin that she has made her way into Malaysian swimming books as the first Malaysian female to make the World Cup podium.
The 18-year-old bagged a bronze in the women’s 400m individual medley final in Shanghai, China, on Saturday evening.
The World Cup series are short course meets taking place in 25m pool.
Paris Olympian Rouxin touched the wall in 4:55.27s. Canadian Mary-Sophie Harvey won the gold with 4:28.03s ahead of Slovakia’s Nikoleta Trnikov, who clinched silver with 4:44.81s.
Rouxin was just 0.79s shy of her own national record of 4:54.48s posted in the inaugural National Short Course Championships in July.
She is the first Malaysian swimmer in 35 years to stand on the World Cup podium.
Jeffrey Ong was the last Malaysian to win a World Cup medal when he claimed a silver in the men’s 1,500m freestyle in Britain in 1989.
“I was hoping to break my personal best but didn’t manage to do it.
“So, I didn’t expect to get a medal as I only want to gain experience racing short course meets.
“Training for short course meets help improve on our turns and speed,” said RouXin, who is from Johor.
Rouxin just missed out on the women’s 200m medley final yesterday. She clocked the ninth fastest time of 2:20.99s to just miss out on the top eight final.
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