Singapore National sprinter Marc Louis will head to the 2025 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Thailand with one burning question hanging over him: Can he finally break Singapore’s 56-year sprint gold medal curse?
Marc Louis smashed the national 200m record in Japan on 11 August with a blistering 20.89s, taking down Reuben Lee’s 21.07s mark from 2022 and clearing the SEA Games qualifying standard in the process.
This year alone, he’s rewritten the 60m record twice, and in 2023, he ended U.K. Shyam’s 22-year reign in the 100m with a 10.27s run at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
This means the 23-year-old now owns all three national short sprint records: 60m, 100m, and 200m.
Records are one thing.
Gold is another.
The last Singaporean man to win a regional sprint title was C. Kunalan, claiming the 100m and 200m double in 1969 in Burma.
Louis came close with 100m bronze on his Games debut in 2022 and silver in 2023.
Now, he’s aiming for the top of the podium, in both the 100m and the 200m.
“This (200m record) is a good motivation for me,” he told the Straits Times.
“I believe I have medal potential for both events, and I am going to prepare well for the Games and hopefully I can bring back a medal in both events.”
His long-time coach Benber Yu thinks the Japan run was a breakthrough, thanks to better speed endurance and tweaks to Louis’ running form.
“We have been working on opening up his stride, lifting his knees and unlocking that extra burst (at the finish of a race),” said Yu.
Strong competition in Japan helped too, something Louis hasn’t always had at home.
The SEA Games 2025 in Thailand runs from 9 to 20 December.
For Louis, it’s more than just another race.
It’s a shot at ending a more than half-a-century wait for Singapore.
And the whole nation will be watching.
MAIN PHOTO: MARC LOUIS/INSTAGRAM