Five meet records fell on Day 1 of the MAS/MILO All-Stars Swimming Circuit 1st Leg 2026 (Central) at Pusat Akuatik Kuala Lumpur, led by four-gold performances from Noma Horiuchi and Aslan Adnan.
Day one of the MAS/MILO All-Stars Swimming Circuit 1st Leg 2026 (Central) delivered a statement opening at Pusat Akuatik Kuala Lumpur, with five meet records falling across 51 events and a string of multi-event performances that underlined the depth and quality of Malaysian age-group swimming in 2026.
The headline story of the day was the volume of meet records rewritten, with five marks going down across the backstroke and butterfly programme.
Yu Shan Liew (15, DSAS Swim Club) produced the most commanding record-breaking swim of the day, clocking 2:26.19 in the Girls 14-15 200m Backstroke to erase the previous mark of 2:29.50 set by Vivian Tee in August 2025 — a margin of over three seconds that signals a swimmer in career-defining form.
In the same event's younger category, Noma Horiuchi (12, DSAS Swim Club) edged the Girls 12-13 200m Backstroke record with a time of 2:31.31, shaving 0.20 off Rebecca Lyu Chunyuan's mark set at last November's meet. Horiuchi would go on to win the 50m Backstroke, 200m Butterfly, and 400m IM on the same day — a four-gold performance that made her the undisputed standout swimmer of Day 1.
Jia Jun Nathaniel Shu (15, Ikan Bilis Swimming Club) broke his own Boys 14-15 200m Backstroke meet record, swimming 2:15.83 to better the 2:16.59 he had set at the August 2025 leg. The 15-year-old also won the 50m Backstroke in 28.39 seconds.
In the open-age butterfly, Aslan Adnan (18, PADE-SuperSharkz Swimming Club) clocked 2:12.16 in the Boys 16-18 200m Butterfly — narrowly eclipsing the previous mark of 2:12.24 held by Lew Zeng Wye. Adnan was arguably the most versatile senior athlete on the day, also winning the Boys 16-18 100m Freestyle (53.21) and 400m IM (4:51.41).
The fifth record of the day came in the Boys 16-18 50m Backstroke, where Abdul Karim Jaafar Azhar (18, Kota Permai GCC Swim Team) touched in 27.30, just one hundredth faster than the existing mark of 27.31.
Shim Ze Yan (13, Stingray Swimming Club) swept the Boys 12-13 distance backstroke with a time of 2:29.89. He backed that up by winning the 200m Butterfly (2:27.06) and 50m Backstroke (31.36), making him the dominant performer in the 12-13 Boys category.
In the senior age groups, PADE-SuperSharkz asserted control: Khew Mu Han (16) won the Boys 16-18 200m Back in 2:16.85, backed by clubmate Wan Oliver Yijia Wan Othman in second (2:19.30). Tew Hang Yong (19) claimed the Boys 19 & Over title in 2:28.74.
Him Tee (13, DSA Swimming Club) narrowly edged out two Gators swimmers in a tight Boys 12-13 final — clocking 1:15.01, with Edryiey Lee Juen Wey (Gators, 1:15.17) and Muhammad Faiq MD Kamal Fauzi (Gators, 1:15.37) separated by only 0.36 seconds.
Muhammad Ziyad M. Qiyam (15, Gators Swimming Club) won the Boys 14-15 100m Breaststroke in 1:09.55. In the senior women's event, Asha Sithamparam (18, Gators) topped the Girls 16-18 final in 1:20.98. Kayler Ngan Kang Yi (14, SRI KDU Sunbears) was the standout in the Girls 14-15 breaststroke, winning in 1:17.31.
Hermann Tang Bok Yu (15, PADE-SuperSharkz) claimed the Boys 14-15 200m Butterfly in 2:12.39 — a time he followed up with a silver in the 100m Freestyle and a dominant 400m IM victory (4:55.37). He was the most decorated athlete in the 14-15 Boys category on Day 1.
In the Girls 16-18 Butterfly, Eunice Pua Jia Hui (18, Aquasplash Swimming Club Sel) won in 2:28.60, and she also claimed the Girls 16-18 100m Freestyle (1:00.95) and 50m Backstroke (33.33) — a triple crown in the open women's programme.
BO YU Hew (15, Ikan Bilis) won the Boys 14-15 100m Freestyle in 54.71 seconds. In the open women's division, Shi Qi Wong (23, DSA) was the class of the field in the Girls 19 & Over 100m Freestyle with a 58.91 — a sub-minute swim that reinforces her status as one of Malaysia's premier senior female sprinters.
The sprint backstroke events produced a generational showdown across age groups. Jia Jun Nathaniel Shu (15, Ikan Bilis) touched first in the Boys 14-15 50m Back in 28.39, while Abdul Karim's record-breaking 27.30 in the 16-18 age group was the fastest men's backstroke split of the day.
The IM events closed Day 1 with some of the most sustained performances. Aslan Adnan's 4:51.41 in the Boys 16-18 400m IM was the fastest IM swim of the session. Rebecca Lyu ChunYuan (14, DSAS) — herself the former record holder in the Girls 12-13 200m Backstroke — showed maturity beyond her years to win the Girls 14-15 400m IM in 5:28.76.
PADE-SuperSharkz Swimming Club led the day's medal haul with an impressive 12 golds, 11 silvers and 7 bronzes, asserting early dominance in the Central Leg. DSA Swimming Club (9G/10S/7B) and DSAS Swim Club (9G/8S/8B) were locked in a close three-way battle at the top, separated only by silver count. Ikan Bilis Swimming Club (5G/5S/4B) and Stingray Swimming Club (3G/4S/3B) rounded out the top five.
Day 2 of the MAS/MILO All-Stars Swimming Circuit 1st Leg 2026 (Central) continues at Pusat Akuatik Kuala Lumpur.
Coverage by Atlas Poolside