In an action packed final that thrilled the fans, the national quartet comprising men’s 200m freestyle gold medallist Khiew Hoe Yean, Lim Yin Chuen, Arvin Shaun Singh Chahal and Terence Ng finished second with a time of 3:20.61s.

Despite falling short of the gold medal, the national quartet can at least hold their heads high after shattering the national record of 3:21.06s set by Keith Lim, Welson Sim, Chan Jie and Foong Wei Tze at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.

The gold medal went to the Singapore quartet with a winning time of 3:17.35s, while the Vietnamese quartet took bronze with a time of 3:21.09s.

“It was a very good race, a redemption from last year, so it feels good like to get back on the podium,” Arvin Shaun said after the prize-giving ceremony here tonight.

Meanwhile, Khiew said: “It was pretty hard for me because I had back-to-back events today but I did my best and yes, I’m very happy with the silver.”

Hoe Yean also added to his medal collection on the final day of the swimming competition when he took bronze in the 200m backstroke with a time of 2:01.74s, finishing behind gold-winning Tonnam Kanteemool of Thailand (2:01.29s) and Vietnamese swimmer Nguyen Tran Hung second (2: 01.34s).

With the swimming competition drawing down its curtains in the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games, the national swimming squad collected a total of one gold, two silvers and four bronzes, in addition to setting three new national records each in the men’s 4x100m freestyle, men’s 400m individual medley and men’s 4×100 medley.