Eliza Tan Breaks Malaysian 100m Freestyle National Record at SNSC 2026
Selangor's Ai Shen Eliza Tan breaks the Malaysian women's 100m freestyle national record at the 21st SNSC, clocking 57.35 to erase Loo Yie Bing's four-year-old mark of 57.56.
Selangor's Ai Shen Eliza Tan breaks the Malaysian women's 100m freestyle national record at the 21st SNSC, clocking 57.35 to erase Loo Yie Bing's four-year-old mark of 57.56.
It took less than twelve hours for the record to fall.
Swimming for Selangor in the Women's 100m Freestyle at the 21st Singapore National Swimming Championships, Ai Shen Eliza Tan clocked 57.35 seconds in the A Final on Wednesday evening — breaking the Malaysian national record of 57.56 set by Loo Yie Bing in 2022. She had already signalled her intent in the morning session, going 57.61 in the preliminaries to qualify third overall, before coming back faster when it counted.
The margin was slim — 0.21 seconds — but in a sprint event, that is not a close shave. That is a statement.
Eliza lined up in Lane 3 for the A Final, sandwiched between a field that included Singha's Maria Nedelko (57.48) and AquaTech's Schulz Christina (58.64). She went out in 27.91, came home in 29.44, and touched in 57.35 — good enough for third place in the final behind Singapore's Gan Ching Hwee (55.82) and Yeo Chiok Sze (56.19).
The record had stood for four years. It will not stand much longer if Wednesday evening is any indication.
Loo Yie Bing's 57.56 was set in 2022 — a time that has defined the ceiling of Malaysian women's sprint freestyle for the better part of this Olympic cycle. Eliza's 57.35 does not just clip it; it resets the benchmark at a point where further improvement looks genuinely plausible.
She is competing here under the Selangor flag as part of a contingent that is itself carrying grief — the squad arrived in Singapore just days after the sudden passing of PADE-Supersharkz founder and SEL head coach Ong Jin Kooi. That context does not diminish the performance. If anything, it adds weight to it.
Eliza is far from done at this meet. She returns on Day 2 in the Women's 200m Freestyle, and again on Day 4 in the Women's 50m Freestyle — the shorter sprint where her newfound national record form could make for a compelling watch. Atlas Poolside will be poolside for both.
Atlas Poolside is the editorial arm of Atlas Photography, covering competitive swimming across Southeast Asia.
