Singapore's Shanti Pereira wins SEA Games 200m, claims second straight sprint double

BANGKOK: Singapore's Shanti Pereira is the fastest woman in the region for the second consecutive SEA Games after she won the 200m at the 33rd SEA Games on Saturday (Dec 13).

At the Suphachalasai stadium in Bangkok, Pereira won with a time of 23.05s. She finished ahead of Vietnam's Le Thi Cam Tu (23.14s) and the Philippines' Zion Nelson (23.50s).

The venue holds fond memories for the sprinter. It is where she achieved a historic sprint double at the 2023 Asian Championships.

"This is my seventh SEA Games, it's been such an incredible journey, so many ups and downs," said Pereira. "Everyone in this room knows my story. Here I am, I showed up and I won. Just incredibly thankful for everything."

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At the same time, Pereira, whose national record stands at 22.57s, said she had hoped to have done a better time.

"Training indicated I could definitely go faster, and so did my warm-ups. I'm really happy, but I'm just a bit disappointed in my time," she added.

"But it's okay. The goal was to come here and defend my title, and I did that."

Earlier in the evening, she clocked a time of 23.35s to top the heats.

This triumph comes two days after she won the 100m in a season's best time of 11.36s.

"Chasing a title, there's the pressure there as well to want to get the gold," said Pereira. 'But when you're trying to defend it ... you know that everyone's trying to take the crown away from you, and that's pretty hard too. I would say both are pretty difficult."

Pereira also paid tribute to her support system, including her family and her coach Luis Cunha.

"They are everything, they are the reason I'm here, the reason I'm still showing up at these major Games and still being in this position to defend my title," she said. "They are the people that got me out of so many tough times."

Pereira won both the 100m and 200m at the last edition of the Games in 2023, becoming the first Singaporean woman to clinch a sprint double at the biennial event.

She won one gold (200m) and clinched a silver (100m) at the Asian Games later that year.

Since then, it has been an up-and-down two years for Pereira.

An injury in 2024 scuppered her preparations for the Paris Olympics, and Pereira’s times were some distance from her best.

Earlier this year, Pereira clinched two silvers at the Asian Championships in May. However, the 29-year-old missed out on a 200m semi-final spot at the World Championships in September.

There was more good news for Singapore in the men's 200m as Marc Brian Louis set a national record in the heats (20.88s) and then in the finals as he took silver for Singapore with a time of 20.72s.

Thailand's Puripol Boonson, who also took victory in the 100m, won the event in a Games record of 20.07s.

"I feel so, so, so happy. Two days ago, I didn't medal in the 100 and that's my favourite event so I was a bit heartbroken," said the Singaporean, who finished fourth in the 100m.

"I had to move on and forget about that ... had to prepare for today and run my best. And I did amazing, better than I thought."

This is Singapore's first men's 200m Games medal since Hamkah Afik in 1993.

Said Louis: "It's just a good feeling with you get a new NR (national record), PB (personal best) and a medal. I'm just happy to be here."