The 23-year-old touched the wall in 1:48.64s, narrowly holding off his closest rival, Vietnam’s Tran Van Nguyen Quoc (1:48.70s), while fellow national swimmer Arvin Shaun Singh Chahal secured his first individual SEA Games medal by taking the bronze in 1:50.43s.

Hoe Yean, who started in lane four, admitted it was a tough race, with the Vietnamese opponent in lane eight showing significant improvement and proving to be a strong competitor. The key to success was channelling nervous energy into excitement, letting it fuel each stroke all the way to the finish line, he said.

“Defending a title is the hardest thing in the sport because it gives you pressure and nerves. I felt pretty nervous today, and at the same time excited, too. Turning nervousness into excitement was the motivation today,” he told reporters.

Arvin Shaun, competing in his fourth SEA Games since 2019, credited his strong finish in the last 50m to his faith and hard work. He said he is looking forward to the 2027 Games back at home, hoping to challenge himself further and improve his performance.

Last hurrah for Phee

For national swimmer Phee Jinq En, a silver medal in the women’s 100m breaststroke was a nice final hurrah. She clocked 1:10.09s in her last individual race before calling it a day after 10 years of representing Malaysia at the SEA Games.

A four-time SEA Games gold medallist, she confirmed she will retire after one final race, the women’s 4x100m medley on Monday.

In the meantime, Letitia Sim of Singapore broke her own SEA Games record of 1:07.94s set in 2023, with a time of 1:06.79s to retain her gold while Nguyen Thuy Hien from Vietnam took home the bronze in 1:10.40s.