From ligament tears to tears of joy: Raffles Institution’s Leonardo Mennella wins first NSG gold

SINGAPORE – Unaware that his ankle ligaments had been worn out, Raffles Institution (RI) sprinter Leonardo Mennella once even took painkillers while competing to relieve the discomfort.

A magnetic resonance imaging scan in November 2024 then showed the cause of the pain – partial tears in three left-ankle ligaments.

It took him two months to recover and the teenager was out of form for the 2025 National School Games (NSG) track and field championships, missing the B Division boys’ 100m and 200m finals by just a spot.

He finished ninth in both semi-finals after having won a 100m silver and 200m bronze in C Division the year before.

But he persevered, kept training and continued to believe in himself.

On April 13, he finally won a gold in the 2026 NSG B Division boys’ 200m final at the Choa Chu Kang Stadium.

After crossing the finishing line first in 22.92 seconds, he crumbled to the ground in tears.

“It’s been four years,” said the Secondary 4 student.

“I have never had my chance at this and I’ve gotten so many silvers and just for once, wanted to have a chance at getting my gold.”

Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)’s Matthew Chalissery was second in 22.95sec, while Thamir Khairan Faduli (23.15sec) of the Singapore Sports School clinched bronze.

Looking back on his “depressing” 2025 season, Leonardo was grateful that it happened, saying: “Without it, I’m sure I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

The lesson, he said, is to believe in himself, adding: “One bad chapter doesn’t mean the story is over – setbacks are part of the journey – and I have to continue to trust the process and keep on going.”

Revealing that he even sought the help of a psychologist, he added: “Mentally, I’m actually not very strong, so I always tend to get really nervous for my races and I started seeing a psychologist to prepare myself better for races.”

His teammate Daryen Ko was also triumphant on April 13. After breaking the B Division boys’ 400m hurdles record in 2025, the 17-year-old achieved a double this year.

Clocking 53.75sec, Daryen not only won the A Division boys’ title but also smashed the decade-old NSG record of 54.19sec set by Ow Yeong Wei Bin for Hwa Chong Institution (HCI).

ACS (I)’s Sean Yoo was second in 56.39sec, ahead of RI’s Bradley Ang (57.56sec).

While Daryen was glad to have broken the record, he was mindful that it was nowhere near his personal best of 53.13sec clocked at the 2026 Singapore Athletics All Comers Meet in March.

He said: “I was coming in knowing what I was capable of doing…

“Fitness has not been perfect, and I knew that I wasn’t in shape to run a personal best.

“But timings aside, I came in confident in what I’ve trained for this season and I just delivered what I could.

“I’m really grateful to be able to break this record, but my main focus was always to improve myself.

“I’m chasing my own growth and I’m chasing improvement.”

HCI’s Jonathan Hoare was also not over the moon despite emerging victorious in the A Division boys’ 200m final.

The 17-year-old clocked 22.25sec to finish ahead of RI’s Wang Qiyue (22.84sec) and Catholic Junior College’s John Chua (22.98sec).

Jonathan said: “Even though today was a win, I wasn’t really happy about timing as a whole, because I was expecting like 21.80 because I’ve been doing that in training.

“But, I got injured recently and I have tendinopathy in my adductors.

“Despite the injury, I still did pretty well. So I’m quite proud of myself.”