KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian swimmer Khiew Hoe Yean shattered his own national men's 800m freestyle record at the Australian Open in the Gold Coast today.
The 21-year-old clocked 8:01.30s to finish sixth. The time bettered his previous national mark of 8:02.78, posted at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, two months ago.
Australia's Elijah Winnington (7:43.08) and Sam Short (7:43.98) finished first and second. South Korean Kim Woo Min settled for bronze (7:49.69).
On Thursday, Hoe Yean had also cracked his national 400m freestyle record (of 3:48.72 set at the 2022 World Championships in Budapest) with a 3:48.36 swim for fourth place at the Australian Open.
Despite his record-breaking result Down Under, Hoe Yean is still off the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT) of 7:51.65.
Nonetheless, this has put Hoe Yean in a strong position to win the 800m freestyle gold at next year's Bangkok Sea Games as he now holds the two fastest times in the region for the event.
"(I'm) pleased to grab two personal bests and two new national records in Australia. I will keep up the hard work and dedicate more to my training to achieve better times," said Hoe Yean, who has until June 23 to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
If Hoe Yean fails to hit the OQT standards, he will have to hope for an invitation ticket for the Paris Olympics
from world body FINA to compete under the "Universality rule."
The "Universality rule" ensures that every member nation gets a chance to be represented at the Olympics in one event.
