Swimming: New national record for Singapore women's 4x100m medley team as they qualify for Paris Olympics

SINGAPORE: Months after disappointment and despair at the Hangzhou Asian Games, the Singapore women's 4x100m medley team rebounded in style as they set a new national record en route to qualifying for the Paris Olympics.

In the heats of the event at the World Aquatics Championships on Sunday (Feb 18), Quah Ting Wen, Quah Jing Wen, Letitia Sim and Levenia Sim clocked a time of 4m 2.88s to finish fifth in their heat and ninth overall, just one spot shy of the final.

The time eclipses the previous national record (4m 6.97s) set by the Quah sisters, Letitia Sim and Faith Khoo.

Unlike the individual events, there are no Olympic "A" cut times for relay qualification for the Games.

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The top 3 teams at last year's World Aquatics Championships made the cut for Paris, while the next 13 countries with the next fastest times from both this year's and last year's World Aquatics Championships also qualify.

According to Singapore Aquatics, the official announcement from World Aquatics will be in June, should there be any changes to the team ranking.

This is the first time a Singapore swimming relay team has met the qualifying criteria for the Olympics. 

"It's been a long time coming," said national swimming head coach Gary Tan, describing it as a big milestone.

While the hope was for the team to make the final of the event, the "ultimate aim" had been Olympic qualification, he added.

"It's never been done historically, and as the national head coach I'm glad it's on my watch," said Tan.

"We've been knocking on the door of every single edition of the World Championships to get teams into the Olympic Games."

The Sim and Quah sisters finished third at the Asian Games behind eventual winners Japan and runners-up South Korea, only to be disqualified from the event due to an early changeover. 

Quah Ting Wen said she wanted to "redeem myself" after the disappointment at the Asian Games. 

"Today was something I've been working really hard towards for the last three months, and I came here on a mission to do something great with my team," she added.

"I'm really looking forward towards Paris and what you can do there."

For the team to achieve what they did was no easy feat given the "emotional turmoil" that they went through at Hangzhou, said Tan, who credited both swimmers and staff.

"To come out of that, and to get to where they are today is an amazing feat," he added.

Two other Singaporean swimmers have booked their spots at this year's Olympics.

Letitia Sim met the 2024 Paris Olympics "A" cut for the women’s 100m breaststroke in November last year, while Jonathan Tan also made the "A" cut for the men's 50m freestyle in May.