S'porean Shanti Pereira breaks national record again with 100m gold at Asian Athletics Championships

Sweet.

Belmont Lay| July 15, 2023, 10:48 AM

Singaporean Shanti Pereira smashed the national women's 100m record for the sixth time since March on July 14 with a gold medal at the Asian Athletics Championships.

The 26-year-old clocked 11.20 seconds in Bangkok, making it the fastest time recorded by an Asian sprinter in 2023 so far.

She beat Iran's Farzaneh Fasihi (11.39s) and China's Ge Manqi (11.40s) at the Suphachalasai National Stadium.

Shanti notched a 11.50s time in Round 1 on Thursday to go to the semi-final on Friday afternoon, where she then clocked 11.30s.

Shanti's previous 100m record of 11.26s was just set at a meet in Germany in May.

The previous fastest time of 11.24s was set in June by China's Wei Yongli.

End of medal drought

The Asian Athletics Championships gold medal win put an end to Singapore's 16-year medal drought at the regional meet.

Pole vaulter Rachel Yang's 2007 silver medal was the last medal won by a Singapore athlete.

Streak

Shanti has her sights on the upcoming Asian Games in Hangzhou in September.

Her record-breaking runs started in March when she broke the national 100m record at the New Zealand Track and Field Championships.

She has since gone faster, beating her time six times, from 11.48sec to 11.20sec.

She then broke the 100m and 200m national records in a single weekend in Brisbane, before the SEA Games in Cambodia.

She won both the 100m and 200m golds, breaking the national and SEA Games record for the 200m race.

She has also rewritten the 200m national mark thrice in 2023 alone.

Her 22.69s time at the SEA Games 200m event in Cambodia was also a meet record.

Top photo via Singapore Athletics Instagram