KUALA LUMPUR: Khiew Hoe Yean was the fastest Southeast Asian swimmer in the men's 400 metre freestyle preliminaries at the Doha World Aquatic Championships today though it was not enough to see him through to the final.
Hoe Yean clocked three minutes and 49.14 seconds to place third in his heat but it was only good enough for 21st overall from the 56 swimmers in the event at the Aspire Dome sports centre.
His timing would have won him gold at last year's Hanoi Sea Games and was only slightly off his national record of 3:48.72s, which he achieved at the 2022 Budapest World Championships.
Only the top-eight in the event secured a place in tomorrow's final.
Australian Elijah Winnington (3:44.37s), German Lukas Martens (3:44.77s) and South Korea's Kim Woo-min (3:45.14s) rounded out the top three today.
Hoe Yean will see action in the 200m heats while national teammate Phee Jinq En will compete in the women's 100m breaststroke tomorrow.