Gan to 'work on small details' in first WCH final

Singapore's distance swimming queen Gan Ching Hwee continued to make strides in the pool on July 28, when the 22-year-old smashed two more national records and clinched a spot in the 1,500m freestyle final at the World Aquatics Championships (WCH).

- David Lee

Her time of 16min 1.29sec in the heats — almost nine seconds under the 16:10.13 she swam in the 2024 Olympics heats to narrowly miss the final — also earned her a spot in the championships final as the fastest Asian swimmer.

Swimming in Heat 2 at the WCH Arena, she touched the wall third behind Australia's Lani Pallister (15:46.95) and Italy's defending champion Simona Quadarella (15:47.43).

She placed fourth out of 27 athletes overall, as American Katie Ledecky topped Heat 3 in 15:36.68 to qualify for the July 29 final.

Gan's front 800m split of 8:29.93 was also a new national record — her previous best at Paris 2024 was 8:32.37. It was the Singaporean's third national record in two days, after she won her 400m freestyle heat and finished 13th overall in a new mark of 4:09.81 on July 27. Lynette Lim's previous record of 4:11.24 was set in 2009.