Swimmer Jonathan Tan places fourth in 50m freestyle at Asian Games

HANGZHOU: Jonathan Tan was left ruing a poor start as he missed out on a podium place in the men’s 50m freestyle on Monday (Sep 25), after finishing fourth with a time of 22.11s.

At the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre’s aquatic arena, South Korea’s Ji Yuchan took gold with a new Asian Games record of 21.72s - rewriting the mark for the second time in a day - while Hong Kong’s Ian Ho clinched silver (21.87s).

China’s Pan Zhanle clocked 21.92s for bronze.

Speaking to the media, Tan said he would need to work on his start.

Prior to the Asiad, he had clocked the second and third fastest times in Asia in the 50m freestyle this year. He also met the Olympic qualifying mark at this year’s SEA Games with a time of 21.91s.

“I started … not too good and I think it just carried on from there,” said Tan, who finished sixth in the 100m freestyle on Sunday.

“Overall I’m a little bit upset, it wasn’t a time I’d wished it would be. But life is up and down. When I’m down the only way is up.”

In the same event, Tan’s compatriot Teong Tzen Wei finished sixth with a time of 22.26s.

“I’m pleased to be close to where I was at the Commonwealth (Games) and I’m sure I’ll get there slowly,” said Teong, who added that he has been dealing with an elbow ligament injury since late last year.

“Been nursing a bit of injury so I think (the result) is a good sign.”

Later in the evening, the quartet of Ardi Azman, Glen Lim, Jerald Lium and Tan combined for fourth in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, clocking 7:17.98.

South Korea won the gold, China the silver, with Japan netting the bronze.

At the last Asian Games in 2018, the Singapore swim team won six medals, including two golds. Team Singapore finished with four golds, four silvers and 14 bronzes across all sports