KUALA LUMPUR: Swimmer Jayden Tan wants to compete at the World Short Course Championships in Beijing, but his dentistry studies could stand in the way.
Jayden faces the prospect of missing almost two weeks of classes to represent Malaysia at the world meet, leaving him weighing how to juggle both commitments.
He clocked four minutes 16.48 seconds in the men's 400m individual medley at the recent National Short Course Championships, finishing 1.10s inside the Beijing B qualifying standard of 4:17.58.
The effort was also just 0.39 seconds outside his own national record of 4:16.09.
"Right now, it's tough to juggle both, but I do think it's possible. I'll just have to see how I manage my time," said Jayden.
"Dentistry is quite a tough course, but it's not impossible. I'll take it one thing at a time."
With classes running from 9am to 5pm, finding time to train is already a challenge.
"If I go to Beijing, I'll skip almost two weeks of school, which is quite a lot. So I'll just have to see."
Jayden said he had already met the qualifying standard before the national meet.
His latest effort came despite taking almost two weeks off swimming after the Asian Games and resuming training only just before the competition.
"I think the break was actually quite helpful. I only started training this Monday and I was quite surprised with the results."
The narrow record miss has given Jayden another incentive to make the Beijing trip, where he believes he can go faster.
"I really do want to go because it's such a big meet, it's the World Championships. It would be a good feeling to break it. I'll do my best and see what I can do to make it to Beijing."
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