2017 Southeast Asian Games – Open Water
- August 18th, 2017
- Putrajaya Water Sports Complex, Putrajaya, Malaysia
- 10KM race
- Event Home Page
Swimming at the 2017 Kuala Lampur-hosted Southeast Asian Games took place just south of the city in Putrajaya, Malaysia’s national administrative hub. Fittingly, home-nation athletes swept the medals, with 25-year old Kevin Yeap winning the men’s 10km race and 28-year old Heidi Gan winning the women’s event of the same distance.
Those medals pushed Malaysia up to 6 golds at the event, which leads the 11 participating nations by double.
Yeap finished the opening men’s race in 2 hours, 3 minutes, 18 seconds, more than two minutes better than Thai runner-up Peerapat Lertsathapornsuk, and over 6 minute ahead of bronze medalist Aflah Fadlan of Indonesia in what became a very stratified race.
“Swimming 10km is very demanding. I need to have a clear strategy on how I intend to conserve my energy and win the race,” said Yeap. “This might be my last race as I plan to retire now and focus on coaching the junior swimmers.
“I am very happy with the result. I have worked so hard preparing for the Games. I trained 10 times a week and never once looked back since competing in the Rio Olympics,” he added. Yeap was the 2011 Southeast Asian Games champion in the 400 free.
The women’s race went to 28-year old, Australian-born Heidi Gan, who represents Malaysia internationally. Gan has been battling health issues in the run-up to this year’s SEA Games, but the 16th-place finisher from the London Olympics in this event was still clearly the class of the field – she won by 5 minutes ahead of Benjaporn Sruphanomthorn of Thailand.
“Winning the gold medal in front of home fans has been such an overwhelming experience for me. I have been injured and sick many times before and today I am still having flu but I am excited to have won the gold for Malaysia.” said Heidi, adding that the presence of her parents who came all the way from Australia to watch her compete was a great motivating factor.
This year’s open water event had only the 10k, as compared to the 5k and 10k offered in previous years. Gan won both of those distances at the 2011 SEA Games. Malaysia has historically been the best team in aquatics at this event, thanks in part to a powerful diving crew, but Singapore’s swimmers have rapidly closed that gap recently.
Medalists:
Men’s 10k:
- GOLD – Kevin Yeap, Malaysia, 2:03:18
- SILVER – Peerapat Lertsathapornsuk, Thailand, 2:05:41
- BRONZE – Aflah Fadlan Prawira, Indonesia, 2:08:40
Women’s 10k:
- GOLD – Heidi Gan, Malaysia, 2:16:27
- SILVER – Benjaporn Sruphanomthorn, Thailand, (time not reported)
- BRONZE – Chantal Liew Li Shan, Singapore, 2:21:30
Awesome job from Team Malaysia! Really excited to hear that Heidi has been lending her expertise in the pool too as part of the relays!
Schooling must have taught them a thing or two.
Nope. I taught schooling a thing or two when his age of 8.
Schooling wasn’t even born when these two started swimming. And not really sure what he could’ve taught them for a 10km marathon.