Singapore Swimmer Letitia Sim Sets National Record & Qualifies For Paris Olympics
Singapore’s athletes have been doing us proud recently. Now, swimmer Letitia Sim has taken the silver medal at the Japan Open.
She finished the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:06.36, a new national record.
Furthermore, she made the Olympic qualifying time of 1:06.79.
She expressed gratitude to her team and coaches and aimed to do her best at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Letitia Sim takes silver medal at Japan Open
Letitia Sim surged through the pool waters of the Tokyo Aquatics Centre at the Japan Open.
The Singaporean swimmer completed the 100m breaststroke event in second place, clinching the silver medal.
She clocked a time of 1 minute and 6.36 seconds (1:06.36), setting a new personal best and national record.
Sim set and held that record just last month at 1:06.86.
To round out the triple achievement, Sim’s time secured her a spot in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The qualifying time, also known as the “A” cut, is 1:06.79.
Source: Singapore Aquatics on Facebook
Letitia Sim aims to do her best at the Paris Olympics
The Straits Times reported Sim saying that she had been close to making the “A” cut for a few months, but didn’t know when she would attain it.
Sim didn’t even look at her time initially as she “didn’t want to be disappointed by falling short again”.
Seeing that she crossed the qualifying time by a decent margin gave her a well-deserved confidence boost.
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), Sim said it made all the hard work by everyone “worth it”. She specifically highlighted her coaches and National Training Centre team.
“Now that I’ve qualified for the Olympics, I don’t want to just go and swim the prelims.” She said.
“I want to go there and do my best.”
Set new 50m breaststroke national record
Sim has had quite the phenomenal 2023, taking home three gold medals at the 2023 SEA games.
Source: Singapore Aquatics on Facebook
Last month, Sim also broke the national records for the 100m and 200m breaststroke at a Berlin event.
Although she took no medals at the Asian Games, she did set a national record for the 50m breaststroke.
She then broke this record with a time of 30.92 seconds at the Japan Open.
Source: Singapore Aquatics on Facebook
MS News wishes Sim all the best in her Paris 2024 Olympics endeavours.
She will be joined there by fellow swimmer Jonathan Tan, who made the “A” cut at the SEA Games.
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image adapted from Singapore Aquatics on Facebook and MCCY.
