SINGAPORE — Hers was one of the most celebrated moments of the June 5-16 SEA Games, and many will recall national sprinter Shanti Pereira’s 23.60sec sprint to the finish at the National Stadium amid a crowd of cheering red-and-white clad supporters. It was also the Republic’s first gold medal in the women’s 200m since Glory Barnabas’ victory at the 1973 Games held here.

But the 18-year-old, who also won a bronze in the 100m, has barely had time to sit back and enjoy her historic win.

After a short holiday, Pereira was back on the track one-and-a-half weeks after the Games to prepare for her next big assignment: The 15th International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships in Beijing, which kick off at the Bird’s Nest stadium on Saturday.

She has been handed a wild card entry to the 200m and will be one of 56 runners in a world-class field, which includes the likes of Jamaican defending champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and two-time Olympic champion (200m) Veronica Campbell-Brown.

While the Republic Polytechnic student admitted it will be tough to progress past the heats on Aug 26, she said yesterday her main goal is to get more exposure from top-level events.

“I’ve never competed against such a strong field and a lot of the legends of the sport will be there, so I’m really looking forward to learning from such an experience,” Pereira said.

“I’ve been in decent form based on the timings I’ve set in training recently, so my aim will be to achieve a time of at least 23.8 seconds.”

The World Championships will be her last major race this season, for the teenager is eyeing a spot on an even bigger stage, as she hopes to secure qualification to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

She will need to shave 0.4s off her national record and personal best time of 23.60s to meet the Olympic qualifying mark for the 200m race. The alternative is a wild card entry, which is handed out to countries who have not qualified any male or female competitor in an athletic event at the Olympics.

“There’s definitely been progress on my road to the Olympics this year,” said Pereira. “After all, I managed to cut down my timing from 23.99s to 23.60s ... If I’m able to cut that down even more next year, I’ll stand a much better chance of qualifying for the Olympics.”

Other Singapore athletes aiming for an Olympic berth include United States-based marathoners Soh Rui Yong — who won gold at the SEA Games — and Mok Ying Ren, as well as Dipna Lim Prasad — a silver medallist in the women’s 400m hurdles at the SEA Games — in the 400m and 400m hurdles.

Lim-Prasad, who represented Singapore at the 2012 Olympics on a wild card, knows it will be a “stretch” for her to meet the Games 400m hurdle qualifying mark of 55.20s. Her national record is 59.24s.

“I know it will be tough, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop working towards my goal of securing a berth in Rio,” she said. “After all, if your dreams aren’t scary, then you aren’t dreaming big enough, so we’re giving our all to try and qualify by merit rather than relying on the wild card entry.”

It may be a long road to Rio, but Pereira and Lim-Prasad have also found time to run for a good cause. Both will join team-mates Calvin Kang (100m, 4x100m relay) and high jumper Michelle Sng in a run for charity in Jan to help raise awareness for cancer research.