Soh Rui Yong breaks Singapore's national 10,000m record despite heat mix-up at Tokyo meet

Singaporean national long-distance runner and lawyer Soh Rui Yong overcame confusion and logistical setbacks to break the Singapore men’s 10,000m national record at the Nittaidai Challenge Games in Tokyo on 29 November, 2025.

Despite waking at 4am and arriving at the Nippon Sport Science University track by 6am for his scheduled 7.30am heat, Soh discovered his name had been omitted from the Heat 1 start list.

Initial attempts to clarify the situation were hampered by a language barrier. Eventually, organisers informed Soh that he had been mistakenly reassigned to Heat 6 due to a request from the South Korean team manager to move their runners to later heats. Soh’s name had apparently been confused with that of a South Korean athlete.

Having already completed his warm-up routine, Soh requested to join Heat 2 instead. After a brief additional jog to re-prepare, he delivered a composed and disciplined race, finishing in 30 minutes 33.29 seconds.

This time eclipsed the previous national record of 31:02.40, set by Shaun Goh in August 2025.

Reflecting on the incident to the Straits Times, Soh remained composed, saying : “It’s easy to freak out, no one speaks English then you’re panicking. Maybe now I’m 34, I’m more mature... I know I can’t go back and change the mistakes, so I thought, ‘Let’s see if we can make the best of it.’”

Soh first set the national 10,000m mark in June 2014 with a time of 31:15.95. Though his focus later shifted to the marathon from 2015 onward, he twice lowered the 10,000m national record again before it was surpassed by Goh three months ago.

A return to the sub-31-minute range had been a personal target for Soh, and the Nittaidai Challenge Games presented ideal conditions—cooler weather and strong competition.

Soh’s recent performance builds on consistent training since July. Notably, he has been incorporating double threshold training into his regimen. The method, which involves two moderate-intensity sessions in one day, is designed to maximise time spent near the lactate threshold while minimising fatigue.

This approach has been adopted by several top athletes, including Olympic and World Champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

Soh has also included heat adaptation methods such as sauna sessions and heat training during his time in Thailand. He believes these practices have contributed significantly to his endurance and recovery capacity.

“The experimenting has helped a bit in my growth. I don’t attack training as aggressively as before… By attacking in training all the time, I was just trying to prove to myself that I could handle a pace, rather than doing what is best for my body,” Soh said.

The result in Tokyo comes as a timely boost for Soh, who is set to compete in both the half-marathon and full marathon events at the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (SCSM) on 6 and 7 December.

He is also scheduled to represent Singapore at the SEA Games in Thailand from 9 to 20 December, where he aims to build on his silver-medal performance in the 10,000m at the 2023 edition.

However, Soh indicated that his immediate focus is on the upcoming SCSM events.

“For any SEA Games, I try to strategise the best way to get a medal. But right now, I’m thinking about next week’s half-marathon and marathon... the Singapore Marathon Double Up Challenge is something I’ve never done before, so that’s an even bigger challenge.”

Soh’s ability to rebound from the Tokyo mix-up and still produce a national record highlights both his maturity and continued relevance in long-distance competition.

His results suggest that he remains a strong medal contender heading into both the domestic and regional athletic calendar for December 2025.