BIRMINGHAM: Swimmer Khiew Hoe Yean is closing in on Welson Sim's 100m freestyle national record.
The 19-year-old showed he was on track after narrowly missing out on making the semi-finals at the Commonwealth Games.
Hoe Yean, the 200m freestyle gold medallist at the Sea Games, put up a strong performance with a decent time of 50.84s in the heats at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre in Birmingham today.
It saw him finish fourth in his heat and overall 18th, just missing out on the top 16.
South African Pieter Coetze took the last spot for the semi-finals with 50.33 while another Malaysian swimmer, Arvin Shaun Singh finished 21st (50.84).
Canadian Joshua Edwards was the fastest qualifier in 48.54 for the semi-finals, held late today.
Tom Dean, the 200m freestyle Olympic champion, was the second fastest swimmer in the heats with 48.81 ahead of Ruslan Gaziev of Canada, who clocked 48.84.
Welson holds the current national record of 49.54 for the 100m freestyle set in 2019.
"It is not my main event as I prefer swimming the slightly longer freestyle races (400m and 800m)," said Hoe Yean.
"But this has been an enjoyable first Commonwealth experience, and I am okay with swimming in more events.
"It feels nice to have the opportunity to swim with the top swimmers in the world," said Hoe Yean, who will close his campaign in Birmingham with the 200m backstroke to on Tuesday.
Olympian Phee Jinq En will race in the women's 100m breaststroke tomorrow.