Chelsea Lee won 1st Open Water Swimming Championship 2019 at Putrajaya Lake

IBSC swimmer, Chelsea Lee Ning, 14, made a first trial to test the 1st Open Water Swimming  Championship 2019 last weekend on 21 April, 2019 at Putrajaya Lake and much to the delight of proud parents, she managed to walk out of the water first championing the female category with a swim of 1 hour 18 mins  surpassing other more experience female swimmers senior than her.

Chelsea Lee, won the overall 5km marathon swim at the inaugural Open Water Swimming 2019 organised by ASUM jointly with SwimOn Malaysia

Chelsea recounted, "I was a bit nervous at the start because open water swimming is new to me. When I jumped into the water I told myself to be myself and I stayed calm."

"The water was dirty and murky, so I couldn’t see a thing. I felt like the water in the lake was actually hard to feel and pull. But after a while, I got use to it and it was easier to swim. By staying calm and focus I just swam my best." 

" I could have done a better time if not for the mistakes I made at the start as I went off trail, it was really new to me and I couldn’t really identify the check points.  But as I caught up with the last batches of boys in front of me, they became my check points then and I just tried my best to swim past them."

Congratulations to Chelsea, and we hope she will be a prominent open water swimmer one day.

Meanwhile, the male category was won by former national swimmer, Kevin Yeap who is now a coach in Perak.

Kevin Yeap, the male winner of the 5km open swimming, is a source of inspiration to Chelsea too.

Chelsea with winners on the podium

Nur Iman Nabilah celebrating her win with fellow winners in the Open Female category

Another IBSC swimmer, Nur Iman Nabilah (aka. Bella) swam the Open category and is a seasoned swimmer in open water. Her last minute entry prompted by Coach Shazali yielded a silver for her as she came second with a time of 1 hour 21 mins, behind Irene Chong.

Winners of 14-19 years boys, where Muhd Rayyan came third 

In the 5km Half-Marathon event, Muhd Rayyan, came third in the age group of 14-19 years with a time of 1 hour 28 mins.

On the same day of the 1st Open Water Championship, a Putrajaya Swimfest 2019 was concurrently held too at the same lake.

IBSC swimmer, Awwal Zasfika, swam the 380m kids event and came 2nd in the Sea Angel category for 10-11 years girls.

Awwal Zasfika on the extreme right, with winning mates

Congratulations to all winners.

See full results at https://www.malaysiaopenwaterswimming.com/