Bukit Jalil: National swimmer Khiew Hoe Yean made more waves at the Malaysia Open Swimming Championships 2025, adding three more gold medals to his already impressive haul at the National Aquatics Centre in Bukit Jalil, here, today.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the Kuala Lumpur swimmer had no problem dominating his pet event, men’s 400 metre (m) freestyle, by clocking 3 minutes 52.55 seconds (s) and finishing ahead of his teammate, Muhammad Dhuha Zulfikry, who took the silver medal with a time of 3:55.96s, while Hong Kong’s Wang Yi Shun claimed bronze at 4:03.08s.
Barely catching his breath, the 22-year-old struck gold again in the men’s 200m backstroke with a time of 2:04.21s, while Hii Puong Wei of the Amateur Swimming Association of Sarawak took silver with 2:06.99s, and Selangor Aquatics’ Daniel Williams splashed into third with 2:07.46s.
He then wrapped up his fine run for today by anchoring Kuala Lumpur’s men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team to victory, clocking a total time of 7:32.38s. Selangor Aquatics took home silver with 7:37.83s, and the Hong Kong China Swimming team grabbed bronze with 7:43.06s.
With today’s triple victory, Hoe Yean has now scooped up six golds at the meet-adding to his earlier wins in the men’s 100m freestyle and backstroke on Thursday, and the men’s 200m freestyle on Friday.
Despite his victory today, Hoe Yean described his first two events of the day as “one of the hardest back-to-back events” he had ever swum. “I know it’s going to be hard (the first two events), as they are only 10 minutes in between,” he told reporters at the meet after the medal ceremony here, today.
Meanwhile, Hoe Yean described the competition as a good warm-up for him and other compatriots for the 2025 World University Games in Rhine Ruhr, Germany, from July 16-27, and also the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore from July 27 to Aug 3.
Elsewhere in the pool, national swimmer Phee Jinq En, who represented Selangor Aquatics, couldn’t quite reel in the top spot of the women’s 50m breaststroke, settling for bronze with a time of 32.31s. Both Hong Kongers Man Wui Kiu and Claire Cheung won gold (32.10s) and silver (32.25s), respectively.
The four-day competition will end tomorrow.