Singapore swimmer Gan Ching Hwee has made history at the 2026 Asian Games, winning silver in the women’s 1,500m freestyle and setting a new national record in the process.
The 23-year-old clocked 16 minutes 00.45 seconds at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on Sept. 20, finishing behind China’s Li Bingjie, who retained the Asian Games title in 15:53.52. Japan’s Ichika Kajimoto took bronze in 16:06.83.
Gan’s performance broke her previous Singapore record of 16:01.29, set at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships. She also set a new national mark for the women’s 800m freestyle based on her 8:29.56 split through the first 800m of the race.
The medal is historic for Singapore. Gan became the first Singaporean woman to win an Asian Games medal in the 1,500m freestyle and the first Singaporean female swimmer to claim an individual Games medal since Roanne Ho won 50m breaststroke silver in 2018.
She also became the first Singaporean woman to win an Asian Games medal in swimming since that 2018 achievement. The only previous Singaporean medal in the men’s 1,500m freestyle came at the inaugural Asian Games in 1951, when Neo Chwee Kok won gold.
The result represents a major turnaround for Gan at the Asian Games. She finished fifth in the 1,500m freestyle at the 2018 Games and fourth in 2023, improving her time from 16:39.70 in 2018 to 16:24.67 three years ago.
Her latest swim was also faster than her previous Asian Games performance by more than 24 seconds.
Gan arrived in Tokyo after finishing fourth in the same event at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. She also competed at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where she finished ninth in the 1,500m freestyle, and placed seventh at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships.
The swimmer now holds Singapore’s national records in the women’s 200m, 400m, 800m and 1,500m freestyle, as well as the 400m individual medley. At the SEA Games, she has also completed a rare triple-triple by winning the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle titles at three consecutive editions from 2022 through 2025.
Gan’s Asian Games campaign is not over. She is scheduled to compete in the women’s 400m freestyle, the 4x200m freestyle relay and the 800m freestyle later in the Games.
For Singapore swimming, her silver medal arrives as part of a broader push from a new generation of athletes competing at the Games in Japan. Gan’s breakthrough also gives the team a major individual milestone early in the swimming programme.
But the biggest question now is whether Gan can carry the momentum from her historic 1,500m performance into the rest of the Games — and add another chapter to what has already become a record-breaking Asian Games campaign.
