BIRMINGHAM, July 30 — Rising national men’s swimming star Khiew Hoe Yean has blamed his failure to shine in his pet event — the 400-metre (m) freestyle — on being overawed by the near-capacity 4,000-crowd at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre here yesterday.
Hoe Yean, who is making his Commonwealth Games debut in Birmingham 2022, finished the race in sixth-place after clocking 3:49.95 seconds (s),
As such, he failed to improve on his national record of 3:48.72s that he had set at the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, last month.
“I am not used to this type of hype (big crowd). I hope I can do much better at the next Commonwealth Games (in Victoria, Australia).
“I want to put a full stop on this event and focus 100 per cent on my next event tomorrow — the men’s 200m freestyle,” the 19-year-old told Bernama after the final.
Australia made it a clean sweep, with Elijah Winnington taking home the gold medal in 3:43.06s, Sam Short (3:45.07s) the silver and Mack Horton (3:46.49s) the bronze.
Hoe Yean will also compete in the men’s 100m freestyle and 200m backstroke here.
In the meantime, Phee Jinq En failed to make the cut for the women’s 50m breaststroke final after clocking 32.54s to come in seventh in the first semi-final, which was won by home favourite Imogen Clark in 30.24s.
Jinq En, thus, finished 13th out of 16 swimmers from the two semi-finals as the best eight advance to the final today.
— Bernama
