Swimming Finals Womens' 400m individual medley | 29th SEA Games 2017

So the first event of the second last day of swimming competition gets underway with the 400m individual medley which didn't have a heat this morning because there are only 6 finalists. I think a lot of them, the moment Tian Vien put her name inside, decided to scratch from it. We might as well. I think the race will be over by the first 50, not to take anything away from the rest of the swimmers but Tian Vien, her butterfly and backstroke is just too strong. You know that she's probably top in Southeast Asia for those two events. Her breaststroke, she's top 3 and her freestyle is tops again. So it's going to be very difficult for anyone else to beat her in this event. Time of 4.51.46 that she swam at the Islamic Solidarity Games where she finished 2nd. She's in 4th. Singapore's Gan Qing Hui in lane number 5. Singapore haven't won a gold medal in this event since 2007 when Kwa Ting Wen won the gold. Nadia Reza of Malaysia who finished 6th in this event in 2013 is lane 6. And the red heart favourite, the medley queen in Southeast Asia who's got bigger goals especially that Asian Games gold next year in Jakarta. She is in lane 7. So they're waiting for the crowd to just calm down a little bit. The atmosphere has been electrifying here. And this is the only part where they need the crowd quiet. The noise levels just go up here at the Bukit Jalil Aquatic Centre. All cheering on Nadia Reza who is in the lane just beside Nguyen Thi An Vien. She's a 2-time champion in this event and she's trying to become the first ever 3-in-a-row winner since 1989 where a certain Nurul Huda Abdullah won the last of her 3-in-a-row. Only Nurul and Junie Seng have won 3-in-a-row. And the way she has been dominating since she's turned up in the screen and the scene she probably might win more than the 3 that she's going to win today. Nguyen does turn 1st, 1.16 seconds ahead of Nim Dan. And your words might be pretty prophetic, Gerald. The race is probably over after the first 50. It is. I mean everyone else is just competing for 2nd place. I mean I'm curious to know whether Thi An Vien will actually back off because she's got 3 events today. Pretty tough schedule for her so she may just swim this just to win this race and then save some of the energy for the next 2 events that she has. That's right. She's also swimming in the 200m breaststroke where she is the Vietnamese record holder. Now she has won this event with an average time over the last 2 editions of 11.54 seconds. That's the average time. She won it by 13.32 seconds in 2013. And at the last SEA Games she won it by 9.75. So we are probably looking at times of that proportions and margins of that proportions with victory here. And her first 2 legs are very strong. In fact we have said it so many times before, Gerald. She doesn't have a weak stroke and that's what makes her so strong especially in the 400m version of the individual medley. Yeah, exactly. I mean breaststroke is her weakest stroke but even in the breaststroke we've seen that she's still top 3 in Southeast Asia. So comparatively, when you look versus the other swimmers, there is no weak stroke. Backstroke is probably her best stroke. I mean she doesn't have a perfect stroke when she swims to the back. You can see her head moving quite a bit. Usually when you talk about a good, nice stroke in backstroke, the head is usually very still. But hers, her head is actually bobbing up and down but for some reason it works for her. She is so quick in this leg. Over the years, the coach has said already, over the forthcoming years, what you'll see is her actually focusing a lot more on the medleys, especially this. This will probably be the one that she takes with her for the rest of her life. She missed the Olympic Games finals by 0.31 seconds in 2016, qualifying for the finals of that. And she did it in record time as well. Her Vietnamese record, by the way, I mean we took a look at the SEA Games record, 4.42.68 and we said a big wow. But her Vietnamese record actually is 4.36.85. So she has gone much, much quicker over the last two years since winning the last SEA Games. And if you look at those times, 4.36.85 is good enough for a silver medal at the Asian Games. So obviously this is the event where she's going to really put all her races and training into over the next 12 months in order to get ready for Jakarta 2018. That's such a crazy quick time. You know, this morning heats for the guys, I think 4.36 would have qualified her second. I know the guys weren't going all out, but still, I mean, just shows in comparison how quick her time is. 4.36.85, you're absolutely right, would have qualified her third fastest from the guys' semifinals this morning, the guys' heats this morning. So she's only got the freestyle leg left. And what is supposed to be her Achilles heel and her weakest stroke, the breaststroke, has seen her actually extend the lead over Azahira Pamutani of Indonesia, who only finished sixth in the 200 meters individual medley and 200 fly. So this will be her first medal of these Games. She was first in the recent ASEAN Schools Games, the Indonesian, but the silver medal will mean a lot more to her. And Gan Qinghui probably will win her first ever SEA Games medal as well because she's turning into the freestyle leg at the moment in third. That's great for her. I mean, I think she's only 15 years old, so she's got a long way to go. And I think this medal hopefully will spur her on to train harder and get ready for the next few SEA Games. Well, she's looking ahead at Vientiane. And, you know, when you look at Tian Vien, it's almost a really good image right here because she will be the one that you have to catch and look ahead to if you're going to be top dog, not just in Southeast Asia, but Asia in itself. So everyone's been chasing her in Southeast Asia in this event. As I said, she's got bigger fishes to fry and she's got a couple more events tonight. So don't expect her to clock the same time of 4.36.85, but it's still doable. The SEA Games record, 4.42.68. Remember, she's already gone 4.40.39 this year. 4.42.68, the SEA Games record. I think she's backed off. You know, the last 50, you can see quite obviously that she's backed off. She's not going for the record. She's just going for the win. And she does get the win with consummate ease ahead of Azahira of Indonesia. And well done to Gun Ching Hui of Singapore, clinching the bronze medal. So three in a row for Nguyen Thien Vien as her compatriot touches home. Huthi Phuong An, followed by Kanita Nimdan. And then Nadia Reza of Malaysia, completing the field in sixth position. Winner of the Women's 400m Individual Medley Final. And that tag has followed her for three games in a row now. And she's hoping that that graphic would be up again next year when she swims in Jakarta at the Asian Games. I know the Chinese are very, very good at the 400m Individual Medley. And guess what? She says that she might actually be going there to train. So, you know, she has already penciled herself in for European competitions at the start of next year. She usually swims in the US at the start of the year. And then she does a lot of her European legs in the middle of the year. Not about this time. It's when usually she peaks herself and gets herself ready because she knows that a lot of major events happen in the month of August. We're not just talking World Championships, we're talking Olympic Games, we're talking Asian Games. Nguyen Thi Anh Vien. That, by the way, is Vietnam's 30th gold medal in swimming.