Singapore's Shanti Pereira wins 100m gold at Asian Athletics Championships, breaks national record again

SINGAPORE: Singaporean sprinter Shanti Pereira on Friday (Jul 14) extended her blazing hot streak in 2023 with a 100m gold medal at the Asian Athletics Championships.

Her blistering time of 11.20s is yet another new national record - the sixth time she has smashed the mark this year alone, and mere weeks after she last did so in Germany.

On Friday, Pereira was well clear of Iran's Farzaneh Fasihi who took second place in 11.39s, with China's Ge Manqi (11.40s) rounding off the podium in Bangkok.

The 26-year-old Singaporean made history in May by becoming her country's first woman to win both the 100m and 200m events at the same edition of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

She has also 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.

At the last edition of the Asian Athletics Championships in 2019, Pereira came up short in the 100m semi-final, with her time of 11.71s ending her campaign there and then.

This time round, she clocked 11.50s in Thursday's Round 1 to go through to the semi-final on Friday afternoon, where she then finished in 11.30s.

Pereira will next compete in Round 1 of the 200m event on Saturday, where she will hope to eventually qualify for - and carry her scintillating form into - the final on Sunday.