(Top) His Royal Highness Prince
Hj Sufri Bolkiah (second from left),
the president of Brunei Darussalam
National Olympic Council, talks to
national swim coach Eva Wong
(right) after seeing Jeremy Joint
Riong (above) improve on his
personal best in the 100-metre
butterfly at the Singapore Sports
School in Singapore yesterday.
Pictures: BT/Amir Amin

Jeremy Joint Riong did exactly what he set out to do, improving on his personal best in the 100-metre butterfly at the Singapore Sports School yesterday.

Participating at the Youth Olympics in Singapore, the 17-year-old national swimmer clocked 1:11.27 in the Youth Men's 100m butterfly yesterday shaving two seconds off his previous personal best.

Riong's record breaking feat was witnessed by His Royal Highness Prince Hj Sufri Bolkiah, the president of Brunei Darussalam National Olympic Council.

"I was already nervous when he reached the 50m mark because by the time he made it, he had already beaten his personal best for that event," national swim coach Eva Wong told The Brunei Times yesterday.

Riong reached the 50m mark at 31.49 seconds.

"I thought he would have been winded by then, only to see him beat his personal record instead," she added.

"That's what I tell him before every swim. You have to give your all and push from the start," continued the beaming Wong.

It might be his personal best, but Riong's time was not enough to secure him a place in the semi-finals having finished last of eight swimmers in Heat Two.

(Bosnia's Zlatko Alic clocked 57.46 seconds to top the heat. Serghei Golban of Moldova claimed second with 57.81s, while Iran's Ahmadreza Jalali's time of 57.84s notched him third. Alic also failed to make it to the semis. South Korea's Chang Gyucheol recorded the best time in the event, at 53.41s).

Regardless the national swim coach was proud of Riong, adding that there was still room and time for improvement.

"Today (Monday) was the last chance for Riong at this competition. But he's still young and I'm glad to see that he's trying his best to improve on his time," said Wong.

"To keep breaking the barrier is important. That's the question, can you keep improving by two seconds with every meet?" said the coach.

Riong will have the chance to break his 50m butterfly record tomorrow. The Bruneian is scheduled to swim in Heat One of the Youth Men's 50m butterfly event at the Singapore Sports School.

Courtesy from Brunei Times