QUEEN OF BREASTSTROKE

Sim completes historic hat-trick with 200m victory in Games record time

- David Lee Senior Sports Correspondent

It was a case of third time lucky for Singapore's Letitia Sim, who won the women's 200m breaststroke final on Dec 14 to become the first swimmer to complete the SEA Games hat-trick in her stroke.

In doing so, she also underlined her status as Southeast Asia's queen of breaststroke.

No one has achieved the feat since the 50m event was added to the programme in 2011. Sim had missed out in 2023 and 2022, when she finished second in the 50m and 200m respectively.

But the 22-year-old has come of age since, improving on her speed and stamina, as she touched the wall first at the Huamark Aquatic Centre in a Games record 2min 27.37sec. Thailand's Pimchanok Chinveeraphan (2:31.50) was second, with Indonesia's Adellia (2:32.50) third.

She said: "This means a lot. It showed the progress that I made throughout the past two SEA Games. I was extremely nervous for this event compared to the other ones because it's definitely one of the tougher races for me mentally and physically because you are just constantly doing it.

"My coach was saying switching from short course (which she competes in, in the United States) to long course, it's almost tripling the amount of strokes, and it's a lot more taxing. It hurt a lot, I was so tired after that, and it's also the accumulation of the meet thus far taking a huge toll on my body."