TEENAGE swimmer Khiew Hoe Yean may have stolen the show at the recent Malaysian Open, but he's still not guaranteed a place at the Tokyo Olympics.
The Kuala Lumpur-born will have to wait for FINA, the world governing body for aquatics, to announce the slots for the Olympic Selection Time (OST) later this month.
At the Malaysian Open last weekend, the 18-year-old smashed two national records, the 200m backstroke and 800m freestyle, and also dipped under the OST in four events.
The most remarkable of Hoe Yean's achievements was torpedoing Lim Keng Liat's long standing 23-year national record in the 200m backstroke with 2:00.08 against 2:00.94.
Hoe Yean, who first came to attention when he won seven gold medals at the Asean Schools Games in 2019, will still have to wait for word from FINA despite Malaysia Swimming (MS) trying to secure at least one male and one female swimmer for the Tokyo Games under the universality places allocation.
As it stands, Hoe Yean does not meet the criteria for the universality places allocation as FINA only accept a swimmer with the highest ranking points from a country and that will be Welson Sim.
"Welson is still our highest ranked swimmer based on his efforts at the 2019 Philippines Sea Games," said MS secretary general Mae Chen.
"But that being said, I think Hoe Yean did amazingly well over the weekend and what he achieved was beyond our expectations.
"The fact that he erased Keng Liat's 23-year record is a great feat, and I certainly hope that his performance will put everyone on their toes and catch up with him too."
Mae said the successful staging of the Malaysian Open was a positive step to the national body's effort of having more swim meets.
"Depending on the Covid-19 situation, it would be ideal to have a couple more events prior to the Sea Games. And hopefully swimmers from other states will be allowed to join as well."