Immediately after the Malaysia Open competition, Malaysia Aquatics conducted a series of time trials intended for Malaysian swimmers to achieve the qualifying time for the World Championships, SEA Games and World Juniors.
Lim Yin Chuen (Ananda) made the cut for World Championships with a 100 Free timing of 49.73s.
Here is an excerpt of his monologue, originally posted to his Instagram account, very kindly provided to us in text form to allow for easier reading.
Ananda Lim – Published 28/04/2025
The roller coaster of emotions this meet has had me the most stressed out and anxious this year. Having the expectation to do a sub 50 in the 100 freestyle was my goal to not only get a personal best, but also to qualify for World Champs in Singapore.
The feeling of meeting that expectation for myself was super nerve-racking as I had a muscle spasm in my neck the week before the meet and a bit of bicep tendon pain the Monday before the start of the competition. I was able to think positively through the ordeal, but man is it hard to keep yourself in high spirits especially if you get these sorts of injuries right before a taper meet.
Looking back at the timeline of this meet, I was so high on the expectation that I CAN do sub 50 in the 100 free that it became the focal centerpoint of what I wanted to achieve. My first swim in the preliminaries was just me testing my arm on whether it can handle the stress of swimming fast, do going a 50.71 (24.55/26.16) was pretty decent considering the circumstances and boyyy did it feel smooth giving me confidence that I can go a sub 50.
But I messed up my finals swim due to me not breathing properly on the last 25 meters leaving me absolutely cooked and getting chased down by Steve Khiew, no hard feelings to you Steve, I’m hitting myself for the crappy finish (time: 50.36, 23.94/26.42). After that, I asked Eric Anderson (National Coach of Malaysia) if I could scratch the 200 Free finals swim and opt to focus on the 4×100 relay leadoff to shoot my shot at sub 50; To which I missed it again when I went a 50.10 (23.93/26.17).
Luckily I was able to do a time trial along with Natalie Buckley, Chong Xin Lin, Izzy Buckley and Jayden Goh as we all needed to drop a little bit more time to qualify for World Champs, World Juniors, and SEA Games later down the year.
I managed to swim a 49.73s (24.07/25.66) dropping almost half a second from my last year’s personal best and breaching the sub 50 barrier after 4 attempts.
My point to this is that no matter the setbacks or the letdowns, you have to find a way through, get out of the negative headspace, and keep trying. I had a sleepless Thursday night where I was overthinking and anxious to the point I had my girlfriend @sol_1una tell me to stop overthinking on what could have been or what I could have done.
Things left in the past should be left behind; try not to dwell on it for too long as it is a learning experience. It is only a matter of when, not how. Using that nervousness and stress can be an intrinsic motivator at times where you least expect it. Confidence is one part of success, but keeping true to your beliefs and capabilities will go a long way.
Congrats to the Buckley sisters for getting their cuts and for Xin Lin and Jayden, jia you!!! You all got chance one, keep working hard and don’t be shy about asking for advice or help when needed. I hope for you all to treat this as a learning experience.
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