Four Legs, One Record - How Penang Pulled Off One of the Greatest Swims in SUKMA 2026
The little state up north that said enough is enough — it's time to win.
The little state up north that said enough is enough — it's time to win.
Event: Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay · Result: Gold · Meet Record · Time: 3:25.31 · Contingent: Pulau Pinang
Going into the final of the men's 4x100m freestyle relay, Penang's quartet weren't chasing the meet record — Wilayah Persekutuan's 3:25.52, set in 2024, wasn't the target. Gold was. "We actually did not know that for a fact, but we did see a chance of us pulling off this race with a gold before coming into this," said Samuel Chong Weng Lai. "The meet record is definitely a bonus."
They touched in 3:25.31 — 0.21 seconds inside the old mark, and a full 3.78 seconds clear of Selangor's silver-medal time. Cheng Feng Loo, who anchored the relay, put it simply: "It was just the race itself, I had a goal time in my mind."
The lineup wasn't arbitrary. Tong and Loo had finished 1-2 in the individual 100m freestyle at the meet — Loo gold in 51.12, Tong silver in 51.46 — and the team built the relay order around exactly that form. "Yu Jing leads off the team, followed by me, Elson, then Cheng Feng did the honors of closing," Samuel explained. "Yu Jing and Cheng Feng were the 1-2 in the 100 free individuals themselves, and Cheng Feng's specialty in relays is that he gets even more hyped and tends to go even faster, putting him on the anchor was the best choice. That leaves me and Elson on the 2nd and 3rd legs, trying our best to give more distance to Cheng Feng after Yu Jing's lead."
Tong, swimming leadoff, felt the weight of setting the tone. "We discussed the order based on everyone's strengths. As the first swimmer, my job was to get us off to a strong start and build momentum for the rest of the team." Elson had no say in where he swam — and didn't need one. "I didn't have any influence on the leg order, but Cheng Feng had been doing exceptionally on the anchor leg and in his individual race in the 100. Yu Jing Tong did really well in the individual 100 as well. So putting them last and first respectively was probably the strategy, with Samuel and me just playing our role for the Penang team." Cheng Feng's read on his own job was shorter still: "I love being anchor."
None of the four swam the final with the record in mind — the record found them somewhere around the halfway mark. "Not at all, I only know it on the last 50 when Cheng Feng came back and as the time is running on we saw there's a chance we can make it," Samuel said. Elson picked up the same signal a leg earlier: "I saw we were on record pace after my leg and with Cheng Feng in the water, the record seemed within our reach." Tong didn't let himself think about it at all mid-race. "Not during the race. I was just focused on my own swim. It only really hit me when I saw the time on the scoreboard afterwards." Cheng Feng's version is the shortest of all: "No, I just sprint. I only know it was a record after people scream."
The four swimmers span more than one age group, and the team leaned into it rather than around it. "Despite the age gap, we all have only one goal in mind: to bring the gold home. Super locked in," Samuel said. Tong described a calm that held right up until the moment it mattered. "We were pretty relaxed and tried to calm the nerves. Once it was time to race, though, everyone was really focused. The age gap didn't really matter once we got behind the blocks." Elson credited the team's familiarity with each other for the energy on the blocks. "Our team are quite well acquainted with each other so the team dynamic was very energetic and supportive. I had no doubt in my mind that this team was gonna do great." Cheng Feng, true to form, needed one word for the mood: "Hype."
"It is equally important as my own silver in the 200m freestyle — it further stamps on a statement that they are no longer dominant, we are coming for them. Along with the meet record broken is just the perfect cherry on top." — Samuel Chong Weng Lai
For Tong, swimming leadoff in that race, the leg itself felt strong from the first stroke. "I felt good from the start. My first 50 felt strong, and I was able to maintain the speed coming home. I knew I'd put in a good swim, but I didn't know the exact time until afterwards." Cheng Feng's account of his own anchor leg needed no elaboration: "Chasing down people." Asked whether anything felt different since, he stayed characteristically brief: "I don't really feel any different, I just swim."
For Cheng Feng, the win closed out a personal drought as much as Penang's collective one. "It's a breakthrough for Penang to win a gold and meet record for such a long time, I felt relief." Tong drew the line between an individual medal and a shared one. "It's definitely different. An individual medal is personal, but a relay medal belongs to all four of us. You feel responsible for your teammates, so winning it together makes it really special." Elson closed with the same thought, extended. "This medal personally made me feel accomplished and proud of all the hard work I've put in over the past few years. But sharing that experience with my teammates Samuel, Cheng Feng, and Yu Jing made it even more special. We collectively came together, gave it our all, and made something happen, which is just very special."
