Singapore swimmer Gan Ching Hwee sets new 1500m free national record at Olympics, just misses out on final

PARIS: Moments after she topped her heat and set a new personal best as well as new national record, Gan Ching Hwee was a picture of unbridled joy.

“It's quite hard to put into words honestly,” she later told reporters after her 30-lap swim in the women’s 1500m freestyle at the Paris La Defense arena on Tuesday (Jul 30).

“I just really came in here to swim free, loose and be happy. Enjoy every minute of it which I did and I'm very happy with the result.”

Gan's time of 16:10.13 in the 1500m freestyle heats meant that she topped her heat and eclipsed her old national record and personal best set last month (16:10.61).

She finished ninth overall and missed out on a place in the final by just one spot. She was less than 1.5 seconds slower than the last swimmer to qualify for the final. 

Gan will now be a reserve for the final. There is no semi-finals in the 1500m event, with the top eight moving on to the final round. 

This is the first national record set by a Singaporean female Olympian swimmer at the Games since Tao Li (100m backstroke) in 2012.

The 21-year-old hadn’t been expecting to break the national record. 

“My goal was really to win the heat and I did so that was one kind of milestone achieved. I was very happy with it. My first instinct wasn't really to look at the time honestly,” she said.

“It was more secondary to me coming into today's race because I just really want to be competitive in terms of placing and move up the ranks as best as I can.”

Gan will also swim in two other events in Paris  – the 800m on Friday and the 4x100 medley relay on Saturday. 

She had only last month been confirmed to compete at the Games, having made the Olympics Consideration Time, also known as the "B" cut, in the 1500m event. Gan was