Shanti Pereira sets new Women’s 400m National Record

SINGAPORE: Asia’s Sprint Queen Shanti Pereira smashed a National Record last weekend, clocking a 400-meter run in 53.67 seconds at the 2024 Florida Relays on March 30.

As Singapore Athletics put it in a Facebook post, Shanti has kicked off her season “in record-breaking fashion!”

For those keeping score, Shanti is now the record-holder in Singapore for all four sprint categories—the 60m, 100m, 200m, and 400m events—as well as for the 200m for both the SEA Games and Asian Athletics Championships, plus the 4x100m and 4x400m, both mixed and non-mixed events.

Shanti had been training in Florida for two months before her record-breaking run. Singapore Athletics said she had been able to do so in an event she “rarely” competes in—her very first race this season.

Shanti will compete at the Paris Olympics later this year. This will be her second Olympic Games appearance after running in Tokyo in 2021.

Previous to this, Dipna Lim-Prasad set the record for the 400m at the 2017 SEA Games, with a time of 54.18s.

“Shanti’s 53.67s would have seen her make the Women’s 400m podium at all 32 past editions of the SEA Games (except for 1959 and 1961 when the Women’s 400m was not contested).

In 18 of those editions, her timing would have won her the Gold medal,” the post added.

Later this month, the 27-year-old champion will be competing in the women’s 100m event at the Singapore Open Track and Field Championships at the Singapore Sports Hub.

Shanti placed fifth in the event last weekend in Florida. American athlete Alivia Williams took home the gold for the 400m with a time of 52.30 seconds.

The world record for the event is held by German runner Marita Koch, who set it way back in 1985 with a time of 47.6 seconds.

In an interview with CNBC last month, the athlete said, “It is pretty cool that my achievements have made such an incredible impact on many Singaporeans.”

As for words of wisdom for young runners, she added:

“To anyone that looks up to me and wants to potentially do what I do right now, the best advice I can give is to work hard and create a situation for yourself where you’re able to train and recover properly.”

“This is not easy to do in Singapore since it’s very normal to juggle many different things at once. But if you really have a passion for it and you feel like you can go somewhere with this, you have to make that sacrifice.”  /TISG

Read also: After her best year ever, what’s next for Shanti Pereira?