Before Pereira, the last Singaporean to win an athletics gold was Chee Swee Lee (women’s 400m) in 1974. Prior to Pereira’s silver, Singapore’s last Asiad medal in the sport also came in 1974.
In May, Pereira became the first Singaporean woman to win both the 100m and 200m events at the same edition of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games and then followed that up with a sprint double at the Asian Athletics Championships in July.
Last month in Budapest, Hungary, she became the first Singaporean to make a World Championships semi-finals after a stellar showing in the 200m. She also met the qualifying mark for the event at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
“I’m incredibly blessed to be in this position,” Pereira told reporters on Saturday. “And I’m not done, there’s still another event. I’m really excited and just super pumped.”