JOHOR BARU: Khiew Hoe Yean shattered the short course national record for the men's 400m freestyle at the Singapore World Cup at the OCBC Aquatics Centre yesterday.
His blistering time of three minutes 42.37 seconds erased Welson Sim's mark of 3:43.90s set at the Australian Championships in 2019.
This is the second national record he has broken in the three-legged World Cup series this year.
Hoe Yean rewrote Tern Jian Han's seven-year-old record of 2:02.332s in the 200m backstroke by posting 1:56.89s in the Shanghai leg two weeks ago.
The national swimmers skipped the Incheon, South Korea leg last week.
Hoe Yean's time is significant as he has made the A cut for the short course World Championships in Budapest in December. He made the B cut earlier.
National coach Eric Anderson said that Hoe Yean's performance is a huge rebound from the Paris Olympics where
the 22-year-old could only register 3:51.66s in the long course format.
"This was a big swim from Hoe Yean, I'm really proud of the work he has been doing since returning home. I believe that's our first A standard time since 2016.
"He is on track to be even quicker this December in Budapest, and he is still just learning short course metres," the American told Timesport
Independent swimmer Chui Lai Kwan got in on the record-breaking act too as she rewrote her own mark of 25.64s in the 50m freestyle by posting 25.58s to erase her previous mark of 25.64s.
Anderson added that the presence of the 34-year-old Lai Kwan is a great influence on the younger women in the national team.
"She is proving to the younger women on the team that they can continue to improve deep into their careers.
"This directly supports our vision of keeping our swimmers in the sport for longer periods of time," he added.