Singapore’s Yip Pin Xiu wins gold in women’s 100m backstroke S2 at Tokyo Paralympics

Singapore’s Yip Pin Xiu won gold in the women’s 100m backstroke S2 final at the Tokyo Paralympics on Wednesday (Aug 25).

The double world champion finished in a time of 2:16.61 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

“It’s an amazing feeling to be able to hear our national anthem play at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre,” Yip told reporters.

“The race itself was a big opportunity for me to race again here today and prepare for my next race coming in a week’s time. I’m really excited for that as well.”

She said that she was “grateful” for the extra year she had to prepare for the Paralympics, as the Games were postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yip added that she had to stop training for a few months because of the pandemic.

“I hope you stay tuned for the next few days of events because it’s going to get very exciting,” Yip said. “Thank you so much for all the support you’ve shown all this time.”

Yip also won gold in this event at the Rio Paralympics in 2016.

She will next compete in the 50m backstroke S2 on Sep 2, an event which she also dominated in Rio.

Yip was the first Singaporean to win two golds at the Paralympics, in the 50m backstroke S2 and the 100m backstroke S2 where she set a world record time of 2:07.09 in the 2016 Games.

Her split timing of 59.38 in the first lap of the event was also a world record time. Both worlds records still stand today.

Prior to her triumph in Rio, Yip already wrote her name in the history books when she became the first Singaporean to reach gold at the Paralympics after winning the 50m backstroke S3 event at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

She also has a number of World Championships and Asian Para Games medals to her name.