Singapore teenager Lui Yan Chow created history on Thursday when he set the Under 18 record in 3000 metres after his AV Milers race at Melbourne's Lakeside Stadium.
The 17-year-old, who lives in Australia, clocked 8:35.92s in the race to better Chamkaur Singh's 2010 feat of 8:43.87s and he is already making plans for the 2017 Southeast Asian Games, which will be held in Kuala Lumpur from 19 to 31 August.
Since athletes do not compete in 3000m at the senior level, Yan Chow, the Doncaster Athletics Club runner, wants to make sure he makes the cut to represent Singapore in the 1,500m event.
Yan Chow also broke the junior 1,500m national record in January earlier this year with a timing of 3:58.62s, which is nearly 9s slower than the qualification mark for the SEA games.
He believes that he can bring in his experience of running 1,500m to make a mark but stresses on the need to be adaptable to different categories. The teenager also revealed that it was an honour for him to set the national record.
"It is a real honour. I was just hoping for a personal best time. It is a real privilege to have done the national best time," Yan Chow was quoted as saying by The Straits Times.
"I am looking at it [SEA Games qualification] and will use the upcoming meets to see where I'm at. At this stage it'll be a bonus if I qualify, but for now I'll just run and see where it takes me.
"The 1,500m is something I've more experience in, but you've got to be adaptable. For middle-distance runners, it's important to try and be good all-round."
