Singapore’s fastest marathoner Soh Rui Yong achieved an impressive double win by taking first place in both the 21km half marathon and 42km full marathon over one weekend.
The 2025 Standard Chartered Marathon was held in a new two-day format over Dec 6 and 7. On Dec 6, the 34-year-old came in first during the half marathon, winning his first-ever half marathon national championship title.
The next day, despite the one-day turnaround, Soh secured his sixth Standard Chartered Marathon national title with a time of 2hrs 46mins 23secs. Both national title winners from 2024 retained their crowns – Rachel See also secured the national title after shaving over two minutes off her previous year’s timing.
In his post-race interview, when asked about competing back-to-back, Soh said: “I tell you, it’s no joke man. I’m never gonna do this again. I definitely underestimated the race admin. The race starts at 4:20am, you wake up at 2am… You do it once a year, it’s okay. But you do it back to back days, it really sucks.”
While Soh said it was very painful, he noted this was a really unique experience. He had to change his usual strategy of pulling away from the pack due to the fatigue in his legs from the previous day.
However, despite the impressive double win, Soh’s spot in the SEA Games is still up in the air. He underwent a routine medical screening before the December 2025 SEA Games in Thailand and was informed that he might not be cleared to compete. This puts his bid for a 10,000m medal from Dec 9 to 20 in jeopardy.
His health screening at Changi General Hospital yielded ECG results showing his heart activity was “abnormal, with multiple premature ventricular complexes”, according to The Straits Times. He would need “further cardiovascular evaluation” as a result.
Despite the uncertainty, Soh mentioned in the post-race interview that he was due to fly off on Tuesday, but there were some “administration pending, so let’s see what happens”. Hope everything gets cleared up for him lah!
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