Athletics: Soh Rui Yong finishes fourth in 5,000m in SEA Games return
Singapore's Soh Rui Yong in the 5,000m race at the SEA Games on May 9, 2023. (Photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)
PHNOM PENH: "I haven't seen you in a while" has been a common refrain to top Singapore runner Soh Rui Yong, when meeting with athletes from other countries over the last few days.
After all, it has been six years since he last competed at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
On Tuesday (May 9), Soh marked his return by finishing fourth in the men’s 5,000m final at the Morodok Techo National Stadium on Tuesday (May 9).
The event was won by Thailand’s Kieran Tuntivate in 14:34.77, while Philippines’ Sonny Montenegro Wagdos took second in 14:36.45 and Indonesia’s Robi Syianturi clinched bronze in 14:43.4.
Soh clocked 14:48.4 while teammate Jeevaneesh Soundararajah finished 15th in 15:51.6.
Soh's timing was just short of his national record of 14:44.21 set in 2021. It is still his best finish at the Games in the event, having finished fifth in 2017 (15:16.5).
While Soh missed out on a medal, there were bronzes for teammate Goh Chui Ling in the women's 1500m and Michelle Sng in the high jump.
This brought Singapore athletics' total medal haul at the Games to one gold and two bronzes, after sprinter Shanti Pereira's gold in the women's 200m.
“I’m very proud of it (my performance). I think I made the race as exciting and as advantageous to myself, to my strengths, as I could,” Soh said after his event.
"Best case (for this race) was third. On a bad day, maybe eighth. My seed timing coming in was maybe eighth or ninth, so to get fourth means I punched above my weight."
He is also the national record holder of the 10,000m, half-marathon and marathon events.
Soh, who won the 2015 and 2017 SEA Games marathon events, will compete in the men’s 10,000m final later this week.
In March, it was announced he would be back to represent Singapore at the SEA Games, after a successful appeal.
It has been six years since Soh competed at the regional meet.
He last featured at the 2017 Games in Malaysia, where he won gold in the marathon.
In January, Soh was not named in the Singapore National Olympic Council's (SNOC) initial list of 517 athletes for the SEA Games.
In a statement, SNOC said the 31-year-old's non-selection at the 2019 and 2021 SEA Games - despite him meeting qualification timings for both - was due to his behaviour over the last few years, which SNOC found to be "unacceptable and unbecoming of a national athlete".
But in April 2022, the council and Singapore Athletics began discussions on Soh resuming his participation in major games.
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