SINGAPORE, June 12 — Newly-minted sprint queen Shanti Pereira is not being mobbed.

In fact, the 18-year-old has managed to slip incognito into the dining hall at Swissotel the Stamford, where the athletics contingent is staying for the duration of the 28^th SEA Games.

No one seems to have noticed that Singapore’s first gold medallist in the women’s 200m since the 1973 SEA Games, and first in a women’s track event since Chee Swee Lee’s win in the 400m and 800m in 1975, is among them.

Perhaps it will take time for the magnitude of her achievement to sink in, for it certainly hasn’t for the teenager.

Sitting down with TODAY less than 24 hours after her victory, she said: “I woke up this morning at 7.30am and yesterday’s race kept replaying in my mind. It really hasn’t sunk in yet, and I asked my room-mate Jannah (Wong) if I got the gold medal, and she said yes!

“I still can’t believe it. I haven’t checked my Facebook account yet, but I do have like 400 follow requests on Instagram because Benjamin Kheng (from the band Sam Willows) tagged me in his post.”

After winning bronze in the 100m on Tuesday, Pereira delivered a sprint to remember for some 11,000 spectators at the National Stadium a day after, bursting out of the blocks to beat her rivals, including 100m gold medallist Kayla Anise Richardson of the Philippines, in a national record of 23.60secs.

The gold was even sweeter for Pereira, who finished fourth in the 100m, 200m and 4x400m relay in her SEA Games debut in Myanmar two years ago.

“My sister (Valerie) was a 200m runner, and so was my mum (Bridget),” she said. “So winning this medal is a dream for all of us. They were just speechless last night.”

The former Singapore Sports School student-athlete, who now studies at Republic Polytechnic, now finds herself mentioned among the likes of Singapore track legends Glory Barnabas and 1974 Asian Games women’s 400m champion Chee.

“I didn’t know about Glory or Swee Lee’s record until I saw it in the papers,” she said. “Glory, Swee Lee, Prema Govindan are legends; to be placed together with them is amazing.”

In fact, Chee was at the National Stadium last night as Pereira and her women’s 4x400m relay team-mates Dipna Lim-Prasad, T Piriyah and Goh Chui Ling re-wrote the national record with a time of 3mins 40:58secs despite finishing fourth behind Vietnam (3:31.46), Thailand (3:36.82) and Malaysia (3:39.10). The previous benchmark of 3:43:85 was set at the 1974 Asian Games by Chee, Barnabas, Maimoon Azian and Lee Tai Jong.

Chee has singled out Pereira for the big leagues, as she told TODAY: “This is just the beginning, I think she is ready for bigger things. The competition at the Asian Games is going to be tough but she has the proper tools, proper training and facility and she will be ready.”

Despite the accolades, Pereira, the national 100m and 200m record holder, remains a regular teenager at heart who loves shopping online and watching her favourite television shows such as Pretty Little Liars, Scandal and Suits.

Thanking her coach Margaret Oh, her family and friends for their support, Pereira said: “I want to stay rooted to the ground and continue to train hard. This is just the SEA Games, and I want to go to the Asian Games and Olympics.”

And just when she thought she could slip away unnoticed from the dining hall, a restaurant staff requested for a selfie with the budding young star.

Said the staff jokingly: “It’s just in case if you become very famous, I will have your photo.”