SEA Games 2025 - I'm Hoping to Break My Personal Best, Hopefully That Puts Me on the Podium: Elizabeth-Ann Tan
- Hana Basir
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 17 hours ago
Having overcome injury and relearned how to trust her body, Elizabeth-Ann Tan reflects with Sportplus.sg on breaking personal bests on the road towards the 2025 SEA Games
Representing Singapore has always been a profound privilege for Elizabeth-Ann Tan, a feeling shaped by every stride that has brought her to this point. This December, the 22-year-old sprinter will embark on her third SEA Games — but this time feels different.
This time, she’s ready to gun for silverware.
Held in the heart of Bangkok, this will be Elizabeth-Ann’s third SEA Games, but only her second time contesting the individual sprints alongside the 4x100m relay. When she first lined up for her own 100m and 200m at the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia, she had gone in with no expectations — just joy.
“This time, I’m going in a little more competitively,” she said, confidence flickering through despite the humility that still defined her. “I’m hoping for a podium.”
Her goals stay intentionally humble, grounded in self-focus rather than external pressure.
“When it comes to my individual 100m and 200m, it’s always about running my own race because I can’t control what other runners do. I just run my best.”
Still, she lets slip one quiet hope:
“I’m hoping to break my personal best, and hopefully that will put me on the podium and a higher ranking,” she said, a hopeful smile stretched across her face.
Relearning Trust in Her Body
A hamstring injury in 2024 forced Elizabeth-Ann into a quieter, more disciplined version of the sport she loves. Sprinting — a movement built on confidence and abandon — suddenly required caution.
“Initially, I was a little afraid to push myself,” she admitted. “Whenever I sprint, it’ll involve the hamstring, right? I don’t think I was really pushing myself to run as fast as I could. I was always holding back a bit,” she shared.
Working closely with her coach, she rebuilt from the bottom up.
“We wanted to build a strong base and slowly build from there. We took it slow. Because of that, we had a strong base and it reflected in my results earlier in the year.”
“I told myself that injury is just part and parcel of an athlete’s life so we can’t avoid it but we can try to manage it as much as possible. I treated my rehab seriously and now that it’s healed well, I’m ready to go!”
The steady progress paid off. She opened the second half of her season with her fastest timing ever — the sign she’d been waiting for.
Elizabeth-Ann set her new personal best in the 100m at the Singapore Open Track and Field Championships in April with a time of 11.73—which she broke just weeks later at the Hong Kong Athletics Championships by running an 11.72.
“That really boosted my confidence,” she said, her smile widening. “I’m really excited for what’s to come in December.”
With Singapore Athletics—and Team Singapore as a whole—sending its biggest SEA Games contingent yet, expectations are understandably high. For Elizabeth-Ann—whose had experience on the regional and continental stage—she’s learned to tune into her own thoughts, mastering the art of trusting herself.
“I really just try to focus on myself because inevitably, as an athlete, you’ll have people commenting on your performance or people looking up to you,” she shared truthfully.
There’ll always be external pressure but you can’t control that. I just try to do what I can and focus on the positives that’ll bring me forward.”
Growing as an Athlete
Now only the third ever Singaporean woman to run 100m in under 12 seconds, Elizabeth-Ann has stepped naturally into a leadership role in what is a much younger national sprint team at this year’s SEA Games. With some of her teammates only 16 years of age, Elizabeth—still just 22 herself—has automatically earned senior status.
“As the older, senior athletes, we have to teach them the technique and be their pillar of support because when they go to these big competitions, they might feel nervous. We’ll be there supporting one another and that pulls us together,” shared the sprinter, set to run the 4x100m relay with the teammates with whom she owns the national record.
“We came together to beat the national record at the Asian Championships. We’ve been working together for quite a while already so I’m confident that in December, we will stage an even better performance.
It’s always a privilege to be able to don the national colours and I’m always grateful to have the whole Team Singapore behind me, my friends, my family and Oldham Athletics. I’m always very grateful."
Elizabeth-Ann’s campaign will kickstart on Thursday, 11th December in the 100m, before competing in the 200m the next day and the 4x100m relay on Monday at the Suphachalasai Stadium.
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