Shanti Pereira to compete in 100m, her 2nd event at Paris Olympics

SINGAPORE — Sprint queen Shanti Pereira will compete in a second event at the Paris 2024 Olympics after the Singaporean qualified for the women’s 100m through her world ranking.

This is another ground-breaking feat for the 27-year-old, who had earlier become the first Singaporean to qualify for the Olympic 200m by meeting the World Athletics (WA) qualifying mark of 22.57sec.

There are three ways to participate in the Olympics athletics competition — by meeting the entry standard, through world rankings, or by universality spots awarded in the 100m, 800m and marathon.

Olympic qualification for athletics through world rankings was introduced only at the last Games in Tokyo and Pereira is the first Singaporean to do so, after WA finalised its Road to Paris rankings on July 7.

In the women’s 100m, the top 56 — comprising those who met the entry standard of 11.07sec and the highest-ranked who didn’t — will secure an Olympic berth, and she was 42nd with her national record of 11.20sec.

An excited Pereira told The Straits Times she is aiming to advance from the heats in her events.

She said: "Coach [Luis Cunha] and I are confident that we will do whatever it takes to be able to get some good times at the Olympics, have fun and do our best."

When she competed on a universality invite at the Tokyo Games in 2020, Pereira finished sixth in her women’s 200m heat with a season-best 23.96sec and did not advance to the next round.

However, she enjoyed a breakthrough 2023 in which she completed a historic women’s 100m and 200m double at the South-east Asian Games in May and the Asian Athletic Championships in July.

In August, she became the first Singaporean to reach the World Athletics Championships semi-finals with her national record in the 200m, before she won a 200m gold and 100m silver at the Asian Games within the next two months.

However, she suffered a leg injury in April, which caused her to miss her Diamond League debut.

But Pereira said she is ready for her second Olympics after returning to full training in the past month and taking part in small meets in Europe.

She said: "I was struggling with my injury in April. Now, I’m back healthy, I’m training properly, I’m pretty much doing everything in training that I need to do and I’m not being held back because of any pain, so that’s already a very big thing for me.

"I’m going to be doing two events, and I’m excited to be there to compete again with all these amazing girls."

Other than Pereira, Singapore will also be represented in the men’s 100m by national record holder Marc Louis (10.27sec), who accepted a universality spot.

Singapore Athletics general manager Shalindran Sathiyanesan said: "We are absolutely thrilled for Shanti and her coach Luis [Cunha]. Both have demonstrated unwavering dedication and tremendous hard work since their last outing at the Olympics.

"The support for them has been incredibly heartening, and we are grateful for the community’s encouragement throughout her journey. We wish Shanti, Marc and all other Team Singapore athletes the very best as they prepare to compete on the world stage."

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.