SINGAPORE – National swimmer Quah Jing Wen won her second gold medal in a row at the Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) in Bahamas as she powered to victory in the girls’ 100m freestyle event on Thursday night (Friday morning, July 21, Singapore time).

The 16-year-old, who is the younger sister of Olympians Quah Zheng Wen and Ting Wen, clocked 56.31sec in the final to beat New Zealand’s Laticia-Leigh Transom (56.59sec) and Scotland’s Sophie Smith (56.95sec).

It was Jing Wen’s second victory at the CYG, following her win in the girls’ 50m butterfly event on Wednesday night.

Jing Wen was not the only Singaporean swimmer who won gold on Thursday, as Christie Chue also took home the top prize in the girls’ 50m breaststroke.

The 17-year-old touched the wall first in 32.38sec, just 0.14sec ahead of the Bahamas’ Lilly Higgs, who secured silver (32.52sec). Ciara Smith of New Zealand clocked 32.56sec to come in third.

“I felt good having raced in the 200m breaststroke the previous day so I was confident of doing well in the 50m breaststroke," she said.

"I listened to my coach's advice, focused on what I needed to do, and went out there to give it my all because it’s a sprint. I’m delighted to win gold and am glad that my hard work in training has paid off.

"This will motivate me to work even harder for the next race and the SEA Games.”

Apart from these two gold medals, Singapore’s swimmers also picked up another three bronze medals on Thursday through Francis Fong, Samuel Khoo and Jonathan Tan in the 50m Backstroke, 50m Breaststroke and 100m Freestyle events respectively.

This means that after two days of competition at the CYG, Singapore are currently second in the swimming standings with a medal haul of four gold, one silver and three bronze. New Zealand remain top of the table with seven gold, two silver and three bronze.

Reflecting on Team Singapore’s swimming performances at the CYG so far, National Training Centre (NTC) head coach Gary Tan said: “The results at the CYG gives us an opportunity to allow our kids to test themselves against stiff competition. This meet is a good lead up to the South-east-Asian (SEA) Games for them, and I am looking forward to seeing how our swimmers perform over the next few remaining days of the competition.”

Jing Wen is set to compete in two events – the 100m butterfly and the mixed 4x100m medley relay – on day three of the CYG, while Christie will take part in the 100m breaststroke.

Other Singapore swimmers in action include Dylan Koo and Ong Jung Yi (Boys’ 100m butterfly), Jamie Koo and Faith Khoo (Girls’ 200m backstroke), Francis (Boys’ 200m backstroke, mixed 4x100m medley relay), Samuel (Boys’ 100m breaststroke, mixed 4x100m medley relay), Maximillian Ang (Boys’ 100m breaststroke), Jonathan (Boys’ 400m freestyle) and Fann Toh (Girls’ 100m butterfly, mixed 4x100m medley relay).