[Media Release] Team Singapore para swimmers finishes first competition of the year with 3 golds, 4 bronzes and multiple personal bests

Team Singapore para swimmers finishes first competition of the year with 3 golds, 4 bronzes and multiple personal bests

• 1 gold, and 2 bronzes were added to Team Singapore’s medal tally on the third and final day of the Citi Para Swimming World Series 2023 Melbourne

Team Singapore para swimmers ended their first outing of the year with a successful haul of 3 golds, 4 bronzes and multiple personal bests from the Citi Para Swimming World Series 2023 Melbourne.

Team captains Yip Pin Xiu and Toh Wei Soong set a strong lead for the team in this opening competition of the season, held from 17 to 19 February at the Melbourne Sports Centres, scoring two golds and two bronzes respectively. The Soon siblings – Sophie and Colin Soon – followed closely with a gold and a bronze each, while Danielle Moi won her first Series medal – a bronze – on the third and final day. The remaining members of the team – Darren Chan and Wong Zhi Wei – are also returning with personal bests, making this an encouraging start to the year.

Team Singapore finished with 2 golds, and 1 bronze on day 1 of the Series, with Yip Pin Xiu and Sophie Soon taking the pole positions in the Women’s 100m Backstroke Multi-Class and Women’s 50m Breaststroke Multi-Class events respectively. The bronze was earned by 17-year-old Colin Soon in the Men’s 50m Breaststroke Multi-Class event.

The team had a challenging second day at the Citi Para Swimming World Series 2023 Melbourne. Only Paralympian Toh Wei Soong (S7) managed to edge into the finals, and fought to a tie in third placing with Australian home favourite and Paralympic medalist Timothy Hodge (S9) in the Men’s 50m Freestyle Multi-Class event. This feat closed the second day for Team Singapore with one additional bronze to its medal tally.

The third and final day saw a last rush of adrenaline from Team Singapore, with Paralympians Yip and Toh clinching a gold and a bronze respectively, and 23-year-old Moi earning her first Series medal.

“It’s been a really exciting weekend. Considering we are at the start of the season and I just came back from an injury in November, I am rather pleased with the times clocked. All of these that are happening in the next one and a half years will be in preparation for Paris – to qualify, compete and do well in 2024, so this is a good starting point. We now know that in the next few months, this is the time we want to beat and we will continue to work really hard and improve ourselves in training, to get to our goals in Paris. Next for me will be another World Series stop in Sheffield and I am really looking forward to the one in Singapore as well. Racing on home ground is always special.  The big meet this year will be the World Championships in July – I am hoping to retain my titles there as well,” said Yip.

Similarly, Toh is not looking at the wins as an end as well. “Coming off a great training camp in Gold Coast, there are many things I am in the process of refining right now and it’s always quite the task to implement what you have learnt in training into a competition setting. With that being said, knowing where I was and where I am now in terms of technique, I am confident that with races further into the season, I would be able to integrate what I’ve learnt from this training camp and get better from here.”

Toh’s coach, Ang Peng Siong, who was former world record holder for the Men’s 50m Freestyle event, concurred, “We just came off a really good training camp where we met up with some of the top sport scientists, as well as coaching legend Bill Sweetenham. This is really the first race of the year, which is going to be a busy one for Wei Soong, as we are going to try to get as many races in as possible. Timing is not the main focus at this meet. It is really trying to refine his strokes and skill sets, and prepare for Paris next year.”

This is the first leg of the Citi Para Swimming World Series, which will travel to nine countries this year, including Singapore in April 2023. Team Singapore shall be challenging their next Series – Great Britain – in March.

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