Singapore's Tedd Chan smashes longstanding 50m backstroke national record at Asian Games
The Games debutant qualified fourth overall for the final.
Tedd Chan celebrates after setting a national record in the Men's 50m Backstroke heats of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on Sep 21, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Wallace Woon)
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SINGAPORE: Seconds after touching the wall at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on Monday (Sep 21), there was a huge smile on the face of 16-year-old Asian Games debutant Tedd Chan.
Not only had he massively lowered his personal best of 25.52s, Chan had also broken a national record that had stood for over a decade, and qualified for the final of the men's 50m backstroke.
The previous national record stood 25.13s, set by Quah Zheng Wen at the 2015 FINA World Cup in Moscow.
'I've never seen that (time) before," said Chan of his time of 24.97s. "I saw 24s and I was like 'that's not my name, there's no way it's my name'. And then I looked again, and it was my name."
Chan qualified fourth overall for the final, where he finished eighth (25.37s). China's Xu Jiayu won gold in a Games record time of 24.04s, with compatriot Wang Zicheng (24.49s) clinching silver and South Korea's Yoon Jihwan (24.54s) picking up bronze.
"The race plan was there, everything was actually executed properly. Just the timing fell short a bit," said Chan after the final. "I didn't expect too much going into the finals. Just wanted to have fun, which I did."
A "VERY FAST FINAL"
In the men's 50m freestyle final, Singapore's Mikkel Lee finished fifth, while his compatriot Jonathan Tan placed 10th. South Korea's Kim Youngbeom set a new Games record of 21.66s to win gold, while Hong Kong's Ian Ho (21.76s) clinched silver and Ji Yuchan (21.94) of South Korea picked up bronze.
"It was a very fast final. I wish I executed a little bit better, but I made some changes from the morning (heats) and it worked out well," said Lee, who clocked a time of 22.06s.
"There's some positives but I'm definitely going to let myself be annoyed at this swim for the next hour or two, and then move on from there."
After a season of "ups and downs", Tan added that he was pleased to have made the final.
"I did the best I could. Always wish to be faster, but it is what it is," he told reporters.
Singapore's swimmers have now set three national records after less than two days of competition.
On Sunday, Gan Ching Hwee took silver in the women's 1500m, rewriting her previous national mark. Gan's time of 8:29.56 for the first 800m of the race also broke the national record for the women's 800m freestyle.
SNOC TO MONITOR AS TYPHOON APPROACHES
Meanwhile, a Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) spokesperson said that a flight for two athletes who were in Tokyo for a pre-Games competition and scheduled to travel to Nagoya for the Games was cancelled due to an approaching typhoon.
The athletes will instead travel to Nagoya on the Shinkansen later on Monday, said the spokesperson in response to CNA's queries.
The majority of Singapore's athletes travelled directly from Singapore to Nagoya, and their travel plans have not been affected by the weather conditions, the spokesperson added.
"For the teams already in Japan, the secretariat continues to monitor the situation closely and is working with the respective teams to make the necessary adjustments to travel and competition arrangements, where required, to minimise disruption to their preparations for the Games while ensuring their safety and well-being."
