National School Games
recap
NSG 2025 Week 1: Records Fall, Rivals Rise, and the Future Takes Flight
Written by Amir Rusyaidi Osman
Week 1
Published 17 April 2025
New Marks, New Legends
Four events, four championship records, and four athletes—or quartets—now etched in National School Games history. In the A Boys Shot Put, Anson Loh (RI) unleashed a stunning 18.48m throw, obliterating the previous NSG record held by his senior Aloysius Loh in 2022, and coming within just 15cm of Wong Kai Yuen’s National U18 record set at the 2011 ASEAN School Games. It was a performance that redefined dominance.
Over the hurdles, Daryen Ko (RI) set the tone early in the B Boys 400m Hurdles heats—clocking 54.95s to break Raymond Scott Lee’s 2012 record of 55.04s before the final even took place. In the air, the A Girls Pole Vault final delivered one of the most memorable duels of the week. Ashlee Ong and Lorraine Leong, both from HCI, cleared 3.40m to break Esther Tay’s 2023 mark. Ashlee claimed gold on countback, but both athletes vaulted into the history books.
And in the sprints, HCI’s A Girls 4x100m relay squad—Choo Jia Yi, Megan Anne Ying, Tan Le Xiao, and Lui Rui Xian—executed a flawless race to finish in 49.27s, trimming 0.13s off the previous record and sealing their place as the fastest school relay team in NSG history.
So Close, You Could Feel It
Several others danced with greatness—records weren’t broken, but they came uncomfortably close. In the B Boys 800m heats, Oliver Fiore (ADSS) clocked 1:57.84, just 0.50s shy of the electronic record held by Zachary Devaraj since 2010. The kicker? Fiore already owns a personal best of 1:56.38—faster than the long-standing hand-timed record of 1:56.70 from 1994.
Likewise, Sung Yejun (NUSHS) nearly made history in the B Boys 3000m. His composed 9:22.97 run in the heats came within 1.71s of the electronic record set by Jeffrey Ng (CHS) in 2003. The mythical 9:02.60 hand-timed record from 1969, however, remains untouched—for now.
In the sprints, Clara Lim (RI) opened her title defense with a sharp 12.37s in the A Girls 100m heats. She’s chasing not only her own 2024 record of 12.21s, but the 1985 hand-timed mark of 12.20s held by AMK’s Prema Govindan. Meanwhile, Clara Chua (NYJC) nearly added another milestone to her triple crown résumé, running 4:53.91 in the A Girls 1500m—just over a second off Faith Zhen Ford’s 4:52.41 championship record from last year.
All-Time Climbers
Some performances didn’t just win gold—they rewrote Singapore’s all-time leaderboards. Lorraine Leong’s 3.40m vault, for example, didn’t only break the A Division record; it lifted her from 8th to tied 7th all-time in Singapore women’s pole vault history, drawing level with national mainstay Hanim Asmah.
And then came Amelia Goh (DHS), who soared to 1.66m in the A Girls High Jump final. It wasn’t just a championship-winning leap—it tied her for 4th on Singapore’s all-time list, alongside icons like Ranjit Kaur, Hoe Aik Teng, and Lim Shi Hui. The mark also places her within 5% of the SEA Games qualifying standard—a powerful sign that there may be more to come from the DHS star.
* results obtained via Singapore Athletics archives and the respective World Athletics pages