New high raises Kam's hopes for SEA Games

For the first time in over five years, national high jumper Kampton Kam is looking at an injury- and incident-free journey to the SEA Games – and keeping his fingers crossed that it stays that way – after missing out on the last few editions.

- Deepanraj Ganesan

After his debut at the 2019 Games in the Philippines, Kam, 23, missed the Hanoi edition in 2022 due to surgery for a collapsed lung.

A year later, he could not compete in Cambodia as the competition coincided with his examinations at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Ahead of the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand from Dec 9 to 20, Kam has been given a clean bill of health – and he capitalised on it by bettering his own indoor national record en route to winning the high jump title at the 2025 Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Championships on March 2.

At Cornell University's Barton Hall in Ithaca, New York, Kam's 2.21m effort saw him retain his Ivy League title ahead of nine other competitors.

His effort was also 1cm above his record-breaking jump at the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational in February 2024.

It was also his third victory of the season, following triumphs at the Philadelphia Metro meet on Feb 21 and Penn Classic on Feb 8.