Shanti Breaks 3rd National Record In 3 Days At Australian Open, But Pulls Out Of Finals Later
Nowadays, it seems like every time Shanti Pereira competes, she breaks another record.
The Singaporean sprinter has now broken a third national record in just three days after running in the 200m event at the Australian Open.
Source: Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Facebook
This also makes her the fastest Southeast Asian woman ever.
Shanti clocks timing of 22.89s in 200m heats
Shanti, 26, competed in the Australian Open Track and Field Championships in Brisbane on Sunday (2 Apr).
Running in the women’s 200m heats, she clocked a time of 22.89 seconds, according to a Facebook post by Singapore Athletics (SA).
This timing would’ve won her a gold medal in the last five editions of the Asian Games, SA said.
Shanti breaks national record set by herself
Of course, her timing also set a new national record in the women’s 200m event.
Source: Singapore Athletics on Facebook
This was achieved just over a week ago when she ran in the Brisbane Track Classic and finished third in the 200m finals on 25 Mar, recording a time of 23.16s.
It seems the only rival who can beat Shanti is Shanti herself right now.
Shanti also breaks records on 31 Mar & 1 Apr
Besides the 200m event, Shanti has also broken records in the 100m.
Just a day before (1 Apr), she raced in the Women’s 100m Open finals and won gold with an 11.37s timing — another national record.
S’pore Sprinter Shanti Pereira Wins Australian Open 100m Finals, Sets New National Record Again
The day before that (31 Mar), she notched a timing of 11.38s in the 100m preliminaries — also a national record at the time.
That means Shanti has now broken national records on three consecutive days. She has also broken four records in nine days.
Fastest Southeast Asian woman ever
Not only that, with her 200m timing, Shani has also become the fastest Southeast Asian woman ever, said SA.
She’s also the first Singapore woman to run the 200m under 23s.
For this, she was feted on Facebook by Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who described her race as “flawless from the start”.
He also praised her as someone who “shows with guts and persistence are about”, having been through ups and downs, including injuries.
Shanti pulls out of 200m finals
Though she qualified for the 200m finals, Shanti eventually pulled out of the event that was on Sunday (2 Apr).
Explaining the decision to The Straits Times (ST), her coach Luis Cunha said she was physically and mentally tired after competing at a high level.
The coaching team also didn’t expect her to break so many records this early in the season.
As 2023 will be a very challenging and long season, they must relook at their plans and pace themselves.
Congrats & all the best for her upcoming runs
While it’s too bad we didn’t see Shanti competing tonight, she deserves some rest after her stunning achievements this week.
Her next competitions are coming in fast and furious — the SEA Games in May and the Asian Athletics Championships, World Athletics Championships and Asian Games later this year.
We’re positive that she’ll do amazing in those events.
Congrats to Shanti for making Singapore proud time and again, and wishing her all the best and more success to come.
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Featured image adapted from Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Facebook.
