It was the 19-year-old’s first individual gold, having won silver in the 100m freestyle in his Games debut in Pahang two years ago.
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| Chan Jie of Selangor in action in the 50m butterfly event which he won on Saturday. - BERNAMA |
In fact, all three podium finishers – silver medallist Chan Yan (25.22), who is the older brother of Chan Jie, and Penang’s Alwyn Tan Yean Yang (25.34) – had dipped under the meet record of 25.36, which was set by Chan Jie in the heats on Saturday.
The previous record of 25.76 was held by Foo Jian Beng, set in Kuantan in 2008.
“I swam really well today and I’m very happy I got the record. I’ve been preparing for this ... so I knew I could do it ... that (getting the record) was not a problem,” said Chan Jie, who started training at the age of eight.
Chan Jie was also involved in the setting of the day’s second meet record. Swimming the first leg for Selangor, Chan Jie, along with Shaun Yap Kah Choon, Lim Tsiu Khoon and Yeap Zheng Yang, blitz to a new meet record of 3:30.49 in the 4x100m freestyle relay ahead of second-placed Sarawak (3:55.13) and Penang (3:36.02).
The previous mark of 3:34.11 was also set by Selangor in 2012.
Next on the quietly confident teenager’s agenda is a stab at Daniel Bego’s four-year-old national record of 50.16 in the 100m freestyle on Sunday.
“I still have one more event – the 100m freestyle, which is my pet event. I’ll just go out there and swim ... and who knows?” said Chan Jie.
Meanwhile, Johor’s Wong Fu Kang came out tops in his friendly rivalry with Selangor’s Shaun.
Fu Kang ended the day by clocking 2:21.20 to win the men’s 200m breaststroke for his second gold of the competition. He had won the 100m breaststroke gold on Thursday.
Shaun has only one gold to show for – the 50m breaststroke he won on Friday.
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