Hoe Yean bags hattrick of golds for KL – his sixth so far

Triple joy: Kuala Lumpur swimmer Khiew Hoe Yean won three golds on the third day of the Malaysian Open in Bukit Jalil. — Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR: Khiew Hoe Yean showed he is on the right track to make a big splash at the Thailand SEA Games in December after pulling off a triple delight for Kuala Lumpur in the Malaysian Open swimming championships in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

The 22-year-old achieved the SEA Games A qualification standards for the second day in a row after winning the men’s 400m freestyle race in 3:52.55s.

The A qualifying time for the event is 3:53.78s, which is the bronze medal time from the last SEA Games in Cambodia two years ago.

Teammate Mohd Dhuha Zulfikry came in second in 3:55.96s ahead of Hong Kong’s Wang Yi Shun, who posted 4:03.08s for the bronze.

Hoe Yean then made a quick return to the pool to bag the men’s 200m backstroke gold medal in 2:04.21s.

Sarawakian Hii Puong Wei took the silver in 2:06.99s with bronze going to Selangor’s Daniel Williams, who finished in 2:07.46s.

His glorious day did not end there though as Hoe Yean anchored the Kuala Lumpur team, also comprising Dhuha, Jayden Tan and Teo Zun Jet to break the meet record in the men’s 4x200m freestyle event.

The quartet completed the race in 7:32.38s, smashing the previous record of 7:40.62s set by Hong Kong back in 2018.

Hoe Yean thus took his tally to six gold medals after three days of competition, having won the 100m and 200m freestyle as well as the 100m backstroke earlier.

It’s a heavy load to commit to but the swimmer himself is pleased to measure up to his own expectations.

“I know it’s going to be hard. This is one of the hardest back-to-back events I have ever swum,” he said.

“Only 10 minutes in between that is very tough, especially after going all out in my 400m freestyle (to achieve the SEA Games target). We still have something more to work on towards December but I am happy where we are now,” said Hoe Yean, who still has a chance to claim a seventh gold if he can win the men’s 200m individual medley race today.

National swimmer Chong Xin Lin settled for silver for the third day in a row after clocking 2:23.12s behind Indonesia’s Aulia Adelia Chantika (2:17.74s) in the women’s 200m backstroke.

Xin Lin had taken silver in the 50m and 100m backstroke events earlier.

Reigning SEA Games champion Felix Victor Iberle of Indonesia showed he is again the favourite to defend his men’s 50m breaststroke title after breaking his own Malaysian Open meet record.

The 20-year-old touched home in 27.52s to improve on his previous meet record of 27.60s.