Hoe Yean clocks season best in 200m freestyle

KHIEW Hoe Yean produced his fastest swim of the season to place seventh in the Asian Games men’s 200m freestyle final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

Hoe Yean touched home in 1:48.58s, lowering his previous season best of 1:48.73s, which he swam as the anchor during the men’s 4x200m freestyle final on Monday.

The 24-year-old was still 0.77 seconds outside his personal best of 1:47.81s, which was achieved when he won the 200m freestyle at the 2022 SEA Games in Hanoi. Teammate Arvin Shaun Singh finished eighth in 1:49.45s, shaving 0.01s off his heat time of 1:49.46s.

China’s Zhang Zhanshuo stormed to the gold medal in an Asian record of 1:43.49s.

South Korea’s Hwang Sun-woo, the world champion in this event in 2024, took silver in 1:44.62s. Japan’s Tatsuya Murasa claimed bronze in 1:44.81s.

Neither Hoe Yean and Arvin threatened Welson Sim’s national record of 1:47.36s set at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games but their presence marked the first time Malaysia had placed two swimmers in an Asian Games final.

Hoe Yean qualified seventh overall after finishing third in Heat 4 behind Zhansuo and China’s Xu Haibo.

Arvin also placed third in Heat 3 to advance as the ninth-fastest qualifier.

Bryan Leong and Goh Li Jie failed to progress to the men’s 100m butterfly final.

Bryan finished fifth in Heat 2 in 54.19s and was ranked 14th overall among 34 swimmers while Li Jie clocked 56.77s to place eighth in heat three and 28th overall. — By LIM TEIK HUAT

RESULTS

Men

100m butterfly

Heat 2: 1. Mitsunaga Shoon (Jpn) 52.54, 2. Wang Kuan-hung (Tpe) 52.58, 3. Mussin Adilbek (Kaz) 52.68. Selected: 5. Bryan Leong (Mas) 54.19.

Heat 3: 1. Wang Xizhe (Chn) 52.15, 2. Yang Jae-hoon (Kor) 52.19, 3. Mikhail Arkhangelskiy (Brn) 52.40. Selected: 8. Goh Li Jie (Mas) 56.77.

200m freestyle

Heat 3: 1. Murasa Tatsuya (Jpn) 1:47.60, 2. Hassan Ali (Qat) 1:48.66, 3. Arvin Shaun Singh (Mas) 1:49.46.

Heat 4: 1. Zhang Zhanshuo (Chn) 1:48.68, 2. Xu Haibo (Chn) 1:48.84, 3. Khiew Hoe Yean (Mas) 1:48.96.

Final: 1. Zhang Zhanshuo (Chn) 1:43.49, 2. Hwang Sun-woo (Kor) 1:44.62, 3. Murasa Tatsuya (Jpn) 1:44.81. Selected: 7. Khiew Hoe Yean (Mas) 1:48.58, 8. Arvin Shaun Singh (Mas) 1:49.45.