Singapore's Gan Ching Hwee wins historic 1,500m freestyle silver at Asian Games

TOKYO - One of the nation's most consistent performers in the pool, Gan Ching Hwee set yet another milestone on Sept 20, when she became the first Singaporean to win an Asian Games women's 1,500m freestyle silver with a time of 16min 0.45sec.

Ahead of her at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, China's Li Bingjie retained gold in 15:53.52, while Japan's Ichika Kajimoto took bronze in 16:06.83.

Gan is also the first Singaporean female swimmer to win an Asian Games medal since Roanne Ho clinched a 50m breaststroke silver in 2018.

Previously, Neo Chwee Kok was the only Singaporean to win an Asiad medal over the same distance when he struck gold in the men's 1,500m freestyle at the inaugural edition in 1951.

But the women's event was introduced at the Asian Games only in 2018 in Indonesia, where Gan finished fifth (16:39.70). She then improved to fourth (16:24.67) in China in 2023.

The 23-year-old's progress in the distance events over the years is clear as she now owns the national records in the women's 200m, 400m, 800m and 1,500m freestyle events as well as the 400m individual medley.

At the SEA Games, she made history by completing a rare triple-triple of wins in the women's 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle across three consecutive editions in 2022, 2023 and 2025. The women's 1,500m freestyle is not contested at the regional Games.

After finishing ninth (16:10.13) at the Paris 2024 Olympics in the women's 1,500m freestyle, she placed seventh (16:03.51) in the same event at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships after setting her national record of 16:0.1.29 in the heats, and fourth (16:06.00) at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Following her heroics on the opening day of the Asiad swim meet, Gan is slated to feature in the women's 400m freestyle (Sept 22), 4x200m freestyle relay (Sept 24) and 800m freestyle (Sept 25).

At the last Games, Singapore bagged just one swimming medal through Teong Tzen Wei's men's 50m butterfly silver.

Earlier in the swim meet, China's 13-year-old prodigy Yu Zidi set a new Games record when she won the women's 200m butterfly final in 2:05.08, ahead of teammate Chang Mohan (2:08.44) and Japan's Misa Okuzono (2:09.67). The teenager shaved almost half a second off compatriot Zhang Yufei's mark of 2:05.57 set in 2023.

The home crowd had much to cheer about in a thrilling men's 200m individual medley final when Japan's lone Paris 2024 Olympics medallist Tomoyuki Matsushita pipped teammate Yumeki Kojima by 0.06 seconds to win in 1:55.30. China's defending champion Wang Shun was third in 1:57.14.

Singapore's Reagen Cheng set a personal best of 2:01.25 in the morning heats, shaving almost a second off his previous best of 2:02.11, and finished 10th in 2:02.65.

This article was first published in The Straits Times . Permission required for reproduction.

东京——作为新加坡泳池中最稳定的选手之一，颜清慧在9月20日又创造了一个新的里程碑，她以16分0.45秒的成绩成为第一位获得亚运会女子1500米自由泳银牌的新加坡选手。

在东京水上运动中心，中国选手李冰洁以 15:53.52 的成绩卫冕金牌，而日本选手梶本市花以 16:06.83 的成绩获得铜牌。

颜金勇也是自2018年何若英获得亚运会50米蛙泳银牌以来，首位获得亚运会奖牌的新加坡女游泳运动员。

此前，梁瑞国是唯一一位在亚运会同一距离上获得奖牌的新加坡人，他在 1951 年首届亚运会上获得了男子 1500 米自由泳金牌。

但女子单人滑项目直到 2018 年在印度尼西亚举行的亚运会上才被列入正式比赛项目，甘静仪当时获得第五名（16 分 39 秒 70）。之后，她在 2023 年中国亚运会上将成绩提高到第四名（16 分 24 秒 67）。

这位 23 岁的选手多年来在长距离项目上的进步显而易见，她现在拥有女子 200 米、400 米、800 米和 1500 米自由泳以及 400 米个人混合泳的全国纪录。

在东南亚运动会上，她创造了历史，连续三届（2022年、2023年和2025年）包揽女子200米、400米和800米自由泳冠军，实属罕见。女子1500米自由泳并非东南亚运动会的比赛项目。

在 2024 年巴黎奥运会女子 1500 米自由泳比赛中获得第九名（16:10.13）后，她在 2025 年世界游泳锦标赛同一项目中获得第七名（16:03.51），此前她在预赛中创造了 16:0.1.29 的国家纪录，并在 2026 年英联邦运动会上获得第四名（16:06.00）。

在亚运会游泳比赛首日取得优异成绩后，甘将参加女子400米自由泳（9月22日）、4x200米自由泳接力（9月24日）和800米自由泳（9月25日）比赛。

在上届奥运会上，新加坡仅获得一枚游泳奖牌，由郑振伟在男子50米蝶泳比赛中获得银牌。

在早些时候的游泳比赛中，中国13岁的游泳神童于梓迪以2分05秒08的成绩赢得女子200米蝶泳决赛冠军，并打破了赛会纪录，领先于队友张默涵（2分08秒44）和日本选手奥园美沙（2分09秒67）。这位少女将队友张雨菲在2023年创造的2分05秒57的纪录缩短了近半秒。

在激动人心的男子200米个人混合泳决赛中，日本队唯一的巴黎2024奥运会奖牌得主松下智之以0.06秒的优势险胜​​队友小岛梦树，以1分55秒30的成绩夺得冠军，主场观众为此欢呼雀跃。中国卫冕冠军王顺以1分57秒14的成绩获得第三名。

新加坡选手郑瑞根在上午的预赛中跑出了 2 分 01 秒 25 的个人最佳成绩，比他之前的最佳成绩 2 分 02 秒 11 快了近一秒，最终以 2 分 02 秒 65 的成绩获得第 10 名。

本文最初发表于《海峡时报》。转载需获得许可。