It was always going to be a tall order for swimmer Phee Jinq En, but she can hold her head high after putting up a memorable performance in her first race of the Tokyo Olympics.
The 23-year-old made a remarkable splash after breaking her own national record in the 100m breaststroke heats at the Olympic Aquatic Centre yesterday.
The Selangor-born clocked 1:08.40 to finish second behind Slovakia's Andrea Podmanikova (1:08.36) and shaved off a good 0.10s off her previous mark (1:08.50), set at the 2019 Philippines Sea Games.
Unfortunately, Jinq En did not advance to the semi-finals as she finished 29th overall.
Only the top-16 fastest swimmers made the cut.
But Jinq En can still pat herself on the back after pushing her limits in her second Olympic appearance.
It was also an improvement from her performance at the 2016 Rio Games, where she clocked 1:10.22 to finish overall 33rd.
"I am more mentally prepared compared to Rio when I was still just a wide-eyed teenager," said Jinq En in Tokyo yesterday.
"For this Olympics, I had been training in the United States for the past five years.
"With so many great swimmers here, it is just wild to come away with a personal best.
Jinq En will return to the pool on Wednesday for the 200m breaststroke heats.
"I will give it my best, but it's not really my pet event. I'm not expecting too much from it," she added.
South Africa's Tatjana Schoenmaker stunned the field by racing to a new Olympic record, clocking 1:04.82 to beat the previous mark of 1:04.93 by American Lilly King in Rio.
Meanwhile, Welson Sim ended his Olympic campaign on another low note after finishing 29th in the men's 200m freestyle heats with a time of 1:49.24.
That time was nowhere near his national record time of 1:47.36, set at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur Sea Games.