National sprinter Marc Louis adds 200m mark to his bag of national sprint records
SINGAPORE – The stars finally aligned for sprinter Marc Louis in Sano, Japan, on Aug 11 when he shattered the 200m mark to complete his collection of national sprint records.
Breaking Reuben Lee's 21.07sec time was a target set by his coach Benber Yu at the start of the year and eight months later, he is Singapore's fastest man in the 60m, 100m and 200m events.
At the 2nd Sano Sprint, Louis beat five Japanese athletes with his 20.89sec effort, with Sho Kitagawa (21.01sec) and Jun Yamashita (21.27sec) finishing second and third respectively.
His time not only eclipsed Lee's previous record set in 2022 but also went under the 21.02sec qualifying mark for 2025 SEA Games.
'I have been trying to chase this record and it feels good to have done it,' said Louis, who turned 23 on Aug 7. 'I felt very happy because there was good execution in the race. I am grateful to be in this position.'
Yu, who has worked with Louis for over a decade, could not contain his happiness when he spoke to The Straits Times post-race.
He said: 'We are overwhelmed because we have been eyeing it for a while. But previously, in races in Singapore, either the weather was not good or there was not enough competition in the races to push him.
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'In this race in Japan, there were some really strong sprinters and that's what we needed. I am thankful and amazed and we also need to credit the whole support team from Singapore Athletics, Sport Singapore and SSI (Singapore Sport Institute).'
Having completed his national service last December, Louis decided to train full-time in 2025 to unlock more of his potential, following steady improvements the previous two seasons.
At the Cambodia SEA Games in May 2023 , he won Singapore's first 100m silver medal since Gary Yeo's runner-up finish in 2011. His time of 10.39sec was just 0.02sec behind the winner, Soraoat Dapbang of Thailand.
Four months later, he lowered U.K. Shyam's 2001 national 100m record by 0.10sec with his 10.27sec run at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Louis then broke the 60m national record at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow in March 2024 with his 6.69sec effort, eclipsing Yeo's 2012 mark by 0.02sec.
He shaved 0.01sec off his own 60m record on March 1 in Oskemen, Kazakhstan, and 20 days later, equalled it at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing.
With the 200m national mark under his belt, Louis is not letting up.
Louis, who credited Yu and strength coach Danny Lum for the achievement, said: 'It is an amazing feeling to be holding all the national records. I did expect to get the 200m record eventually but it is not something I can say I was dreaming about since I was younger.
'Growing up, I was doing totally different events, I was doing the hurdles. But now that I have these records, I will try my best to be as fast as possible.'
Yu attributed Louis' progress to the work done on his speed endurance and tweaking his running form.
The coach said: 'We have been working on opening up his stride, lifting his knees, and unlocking that extra burst (at the finish of a race).'
Louis' next big assignment is the Dec 9-20 SEA Games in Thailand, where the soft-spoken speedster will be seeking a historic sprint gold.
He will be hoping to make the progression in the 100m event, after winning the bronze on his debut in Hanoi in 2022 and the silver in Cambodia. He has yet to compete in the 200m at the biennial event.
The last Singaporean male athlete to win a sprint gold at the regional event was C. Kunalan, who claimed the 100m and 200m double at the 1969 South-east Asian Peninsular Games (the predecessor of the SEA Games) in Burma (now Myanmar).
Describing recent results as being a boost, Louis said: 'This (200m record) is a good motivation for me. I believe I have medal potential for both events, and I am going to prepare well for the Games and hopefully I can bring back a medal in both events.'
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