Singapore's Shanti Pereira takes 200m gold at Asian Athletics Championships for historic sprint double

SINGAPORE: Singapore sprint queen Shanti Pereira on Sunday (Jul 16) clinched her maiden sprint double at the Asian Athletics Championships, extending her amazing run of form in 2023.

The 26-year-old followed up her record-breaking 100m win - the sixth time she had rewritten her national record this year - on Friday by storming home first in the 200m event in Bangkok on Sunday.

Starting in lane 8, Pereira obliterated the field in a time of 22.70s - a meet record - with India's Jyothi Yarraji taking the silver medal in 23.13s and Li Yuting of China coming in third (23.25s).

She made history in May by becoming the first Singaporean woman to win both the 100m and 200m events at the same edition of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

Pereira had rewritten the 200m national mark thrice this year, with her 22.69s effort at the SEA Games in Cambodia doubling up as a meet record. 

While she did not set a new national record in the 200m on Sunday, unlike her time of 11.20s in the 100m two days earlier, she still shaved 0.04s off the previous meet record set by Bahrain's Salwa Eid Naser in 2019.

Pereira was also just 0.01s shy of equalling her SEA Games mark.

At the last edition of the Asian Athletics Championships in 2019, Pereira did not qualify for the 100m final but she will now return home to Singapore as a double champion of the regional meet.