Athletics: Soh Rui Yong finishes fourth in 5,000m in SEA Games return

PHNOM PENH: "I haven't seen you in a while" has been a common refrain to top Singapore runner Soh Rui Yong, when meeting with athletes from other countries over the last few days.

After all, it has been six years since he last competed at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

On Tuesday (May 9), Soh marked his return by finishing fourth in the men’s 5,000m final at the Morodok Techo National Stadium on Tuesday (May 9).

The event was won by Thailand’s Kieran Tuntivate in 14:34.77, while Philippines’ Sonny Montenegro Wagdos took second in 14:36.45 and Indonesia’s Robi Syianturi clinched bronze in 14:43.4.

Soh clocked 14:48.4 while teammate Jeevaneesh Soundararajah finished 15th in 15:51.6.

Soh's timing was just short of his national record of 14:44.21 set in 2021. It is still his best finish at the Games in the event, having finished fifth in 2017 (15:16.5).

While Soh missed out on a medal, there were bronzes for teammate Goh Chui Ling in the women's 1500m and Michelle Sng in the high jump.

This brought Singapore athletics' total medal haul at the Games to one gold and two bronzes, after sprinter Shanti Pereira's gold in the women's 200m.

“I’m very proud of it (my performance). I think I made the race as exciting and as advantageous to myself, to my strengths, as I could,” Soh said after his event.

"Best case (for this race) was third. On a bad day, maybe eighth. My seed timing coming in was maybe eighth or ninth, so to get fourth means I punched above my weight."

He is also the national record holder of the 10,000m, half-marathon and marathon events.

Soh, who won the 2015 and 2017 SEA Games marathon events, will compete in the men’s 10,000m final later this week. 

In March, it was announced he would be back to represent Singapore at the