S’pore’s Tedd Chan sets 50m backstroke national record, qualifies for final in Asian Games debut

Singapore's Tedd Chan sets a 50m backstroke national record in the heats at the Asian Games.

PHOTO: SPEXSG/ANDY CHUA

Published Sep 21, 2026, 12:15 PM

Updated Sep 21, 2026, 01:08 PM

Tedd Chan set a new Singapore national record in the men's 50m backstroke with a time of 24.97 seconds, becoming the first Singaporean to swim under 25 seconds in this event.

Chan qualified for the Asian Games final on his debut, placing fourth overall, and expressed pride in his personal best despite recent tough training and competition.

Other Singapore swimmers, including Julian Lee and Victoria Lim, also reached finals in their events, showing strong national representation at the Asian Games.

TOKYO – For a brief moment after the men’s 50m backstroke heats on Sept 21, Singapore’s Tedd Chan gave an impression of The Ting Tings’ song, That’s Not My Name.

The teenager was not even born when the sleeper hit topped the charts in 2009, but he was on song on Sept 21, when he clocked a national record time of 24.97sec to qualify for a final on his Asian Games debut.

The 16-year-old said: “I saw the time, I saw 24 (seconds), I was like, that’s not my name, no way that’s my name. “Then I looked again, and I was like, yeah, it is my name.” His joy and disbelief was understandable, as no Singaporean had gone under 25 seconds in this event. Before this race, Tedd’s previous best was 25.52 achieved at the 2026 National School Games.

The previous longstanding national mark of 25.13 was set by Quah Zheng Wen at the 2015 FINA World Cup in Moscow .

Swimming in the last of three heats at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, Chan was pushed by China’s Xu Jiayu (24.64), who had already won the 100m backstroke in a Games record 51.98 on Sept 20, and South Korea’s Yoon Jih-wan (24.74).

The Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) student placed fourth overall in the heats, with another Chinese Wang Zicheng topping Heat 2 in 24.80. Singapore’s other representative Julian Lee (26.51) was seventh in Heat 1 and finished 18th out of 29 swimmers overall.

Tedd said: “I went in the water and the underwater kicks didn’t feel as proper as I wanted them to be, but I felt the water was moving and it felt so great during the swim.

“The goal was making the final. After looking at the really fast times in the first day, it felt a bit hard, so I just wanted to give my best effort and thankfully I made the final.

“It’s been a hard few months as I just came back from the Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Canada in August. I have been working on my sprint techniques and it’s been about a year hovering around the 25sec mark, so this is actually a big PB (personal best) and I’m really proud of myself.”

The teen started swimming when he was four, and showed his sprint potential when he won the boys’ 50m backstroke gold (25.79) and 50m freestyle silver (23.39) at the 2025 Asian Youth Games in Bahrain.

On Sept 21, he will be chasing history, as no Singaporean has won an Asiad 50m backstroke medal since the event was introduced in the 2006 edition.

When asked if he could outdo himself to make the podium in the evening finals, Tedd said: “My senior Mikkel (Lee) told me to just have fun and I’m just going to do that tonight.”

Meanwhile, a day after making the men’s 100m freestyle final, Lee (22.30) and teammate Jonathan Tan (22.43) reached the men’s 50m freestyle final after finishing eighth and 10th overall respectively in the heats.

South Korea’s Kim Young-beom qualified in first place with a Games record of 21.71, 0.01sec quicker than compatriot Ji Yu-chan’s winning time in 2023.

Singapore’s Victoria Lim (2min 3.72sec) also made it to the women’s 200m freestyle final after coming in ninth overall in the heats, while Christian Schulz (14th) missed out after finishing 14th out of 21 athletes.

Singapore’s Glen Lim, Brandon Yap, Russel Pang and Ardi Zulhilmi Azman will also feature in the finals after placing sixth overall in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay heats in 7:22.73.

Dive into all the sporting action and trends in Singapore with ST’s weekly newsletter.

David Lee is senior sports correspondent at The Straits Times, focusing on aquatics, badminton, basketball, cue sports, football and table tennis.

新加坡选手陈德明在亚运会预赛中创造了男子50米仰泳全国纪录。

照片：SPEXSG/ANDY CHUA

发布于 2026 年 9 月 21 日下午 12:15

更新于2026年9月21日下午1:08

泰德·陈在男子50米仰泳比赛中以24.97秒的成绩创造了新的新加坡全国纪录，成为第一个在该项目中游进25秒的新加坡人。

陈在首次参加亚运会就晋级决赛，最终获得第四名。尽管最近训练和比赛都很艰苦，但他对自己取得的个人最佳成绩表示自豪。

新加坡其他游泳运动员，如李俊杰和林嘉欣，也在各自的项目中进入决赛，展现了国家在亚运会上的强大实力。

东京——9月21日男子50米仰泳预赛结束后，新加坡选手陈德明短暂地模仿了丁丁乐队的歌曲《那不是我的名字》。

这位少年出生时，这首黑马歌曲在 2009 年登上排行榜榜首，但他在 9 月 21 日状态极佳，在亚运会首秀中以 24.97 秒的成绩打破全国纪录，晋级决赛。

这位16岁的少年说：“我看到时间，看到24秒，我当时想，这不可能是我的名字，绝对不可能是我的名字。然后我又看了一遍，心想，没错，这就是我的名字。”他的喜悦和难以置信是可以理解的，因为此前还没有新加坡选手在这个项目中跑进25秒。在此之前，泰德的最佳成绩是25.52秒，是在2026年全国校际运动会上创造的。

此前保持多年的全国纪录是 25.13 米，由柯正文在 2015 年莫斯科国际泳联世界杯上创造。

在东京水上运动中心的三场预赛的最后一场中，陈勇雄受到了中国选手徐嘉宇（24.64）和韩国选手尹智焕（24.74）的挑战。徐嘉宇此前已于9月20日以51.98的成绩打破赛会纪录，赢得了女子100米仰泳冠军。

英华中学（自主）的学生在预赛中获得总成绩第四名，另一位中国选手王自成以24.80秒的成绩获得第二组第一名。新加坡的另一位代表李俊杰（26.51秒）在第一组排名第七，在29名游泳选手中总排名第18名。

泰德说：“我下水后，水下踢腿感觉没有我想象中那么正确，但我感觉水在流动，游泳时感觉非常棒。”

“我的目​​标是进入决赛。看了第一天那些非常快的成绩后，感觉有点难，所以我只想尽我所能，谢天谢地我进入了决赛。”

“过去几个月很艰难，因为我八月份刚从加拿大参加完泛太平洋青少年游泳锦标赛回来。我一直在努力提高短距离冲刺技术，过去一年我的成绩一直徘徊在25秒左右，所以这次的成绩对我来说是一个很大的个人最佳，我为自己感到非常自豪。”

这位少年从四岁开始游泳，并在 2025 年巴林亚洲青年运动会上获得了男子 50 米仰泳金牌（25.79）和 50 米自由泳银牌（23.39），展现了他的短跑潜力。

9月21日，他将追逐历史，因为自2006年亚运会设立男子50米仰泳项目以来，还没有新加坡选手获得过该项目的奖牌。

当被问及他能否在晚间决赛中超越自我，登上领奖台时，泰德说：“我的前辈米克尔（李）告诉我只要享受比赛就好，我今晚就会这么做。”

与此同时，在晋级男子 100 米自由泳决赛的第二天，李（22.30）和队友乔纳森·谭（22.43）在预赛中分别获得第八名和第十名，晋级男子 50 米自由泳决赛。

韩国选手金永范以 21.71 秒的成绩获得第一名，并打破了奥运会纪录，比同胞池裕灿在 2023 年的夺冠成绩快了 0.01 秒。

新加坡选手林维多利亚（2分3.72秒）在预赛中获得第九名，也晋级了女子200米自由泳决赛，而克里斯蒂安·舒尔茨（第14名）在21名运动员中排名第14，无缘决赛。

新加坡选手林格伦、叶文登、庞瑞生和阿迪·祖尔希尔米·阿兹曼在男子4x200米自由泳接力预赛中以7分22秒73的成绩获得第六名，也将参加决赛。

通过《海峡时报》的每周新闻简报，深入了解新加坡的所有体育赛事和趋势。

David Lee 是《海峡时报》的高级体育记者，主要报道水上运动、羽毛球、篮球、台球、足球和乒乓球。