In an awe-inspiring display of speed and skill, Singapore’s track sensation, Shanti Pereira, has once again etched her name in history by clinching the gold medal at the Asian Athletics Championships’ 200m event in Bangkok on Jul. 16.
Pereira’s astounding time of 22.70 seconds not only secured her victory but also shattered the meet record, leaving her competitors in her dust.
India’s Jyothi Yarraji and China’s Li Yuting were both left trailing in the wake of Pereira’s extraordinary performance.
Jyothi Yarraji secured the silver medal with a time of 23.13 seconds, while Li Yuting took the bronze with a timing of 23.25 seconds.
Breaking records left, right and centre.
Shanti Pereira’s success at the Asian Athletics Championships was not an isolated incident. Just two days before her spectacular 200m triumph, she had already set the track on fire with her record-breaking win in the 100m event.
Pereira clocked an astonishing time of 11.20 seconds, rewriting the national record for the sixth time in 2023.
The year 2023 has been nothing short of a fairy tale for Shanti Pereira. Not content with just national records, she aimed for and achieved greater heights.
At the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games held in Cambodia earlier in the year, Pereira delivered a breathtaking performance in the 200m event, setting a new meet record of 22.69 seconds.
In May 2023, she scripted history by becoming the first Singaporean woman to clinch a sprint double at the same edition of the SEA Games.
Minister Edwin Tong reacts
I think we have all run out of superlatives for Shanti.
Irrepressible, amazing, scintillating, historic.
The SEA Games double sprint Champion was all that and more as she made it a Double Double – bagging the Gold in both the 100m and 200m at the Asian Athletics Championships (AAC) in Bangkok.
Not only did she clinch the Gold, she re-wrote the 200m AAC meet record today, crossing the line in exhilaration with her time of 22.70 eclipsing the previous record set in 2019. Shanti was the only sub 23sec finisher in the Final, with her blistering pace at the bend burning off her opponents who trailed in her wake by some distance.
Just to put things in perspective – Shanti had just won the Gold in the 100m a few days ago at the AAC, with a time of 11.20 earning her a new National Record. Both her times in the 100m and the 200m would have won the Gold at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.
She has had an unbelievable year so far, and I am quietly confident and hoping that she will finish the year on a high. Wishing Shanti all the very best as she continues to defy the superlatives. Go Shanti Go!!!
Header image sources: Singapore Athletics on Instagram