Soh Rui Yong

Soh was born in Singapore in 1991. Soh's mother is a teacher, and his younger sister Romaine is also an accomplished runner.[13] When Soh was at Raffles Institution, he won the A Division individual cross-country title two years in a row.[14]

Soh graduated from the University of Oregon in the United States, where he studied business administration.[15]

Soh has been reading for a law degree at University College London since 2021.[16]

On 14 June 2014, Soh set a new national record for the 10,000m track event at the Portland Track Festival with a timing of 31:15.95, beating the previous record of 31:19:00 set by P.C. Suppiah in November 1973.[17]

Soh won his first marathon gold at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games and became the first Singaporean male marathoner to win back-to-back SEA Games titles when he won gold again at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games despite almost being expelled from the team a week before the race.[18]

In August 2017, Soh courted controversy when he was given a formal warning by the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC).[19][13][20]

On 20 January 2019, Soh set a new half marathon national record of 66:46 at the 2019 Aramco Houston Half Marathon, breaking Mok Ying Ren's 3-year-old record of 67:08.[21] This made him the only Singapore man in history to concurrently hold the 10,000m (31:15.95) and half marathon national records. On 17 March 2019, Soh broke the Singapore marathon record after finishing the Seoul Marathon in 2:23:42.[22] However, Soh was not selected to compete in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games by SNOC to defend his marathon gold despite being nominated by SA.[6]

On 17 July 2021, at the Singapore Athletics All Comers Meet 4, Soh clocked 14:44.21 for the 5,000m, breaking Mok's record of 14:51.09. With this result, Soh became the holder of four national records: 5,000m, 10,000m, half-marathon, and marathon.[23]

On 4 September 2021, Soh clocked 6:53.18 in a 2.4km run – the fastest recorded time in Singapore.[24] He issued a challenge to all Singaporeans to clock a sub-7 timing; anyone succeeding would receive $700 and 700 bottles of Pocari Sweat paid by Soh.[25] The challenge was eventually carried out at Pocari Sweat Run, a local running event, on 8 January 2022. In it, Jeevaneesh Soundararajah set a new record at 6:52.97.[26]

On 28 November 2021, Soh took on the fastest Gurkha soldier in Singapore, Subas Gurung,[27] over 10,000m at the Singapore Athletics Allcomers 5 Track Meet. Soh won the race in 31:28.67, becoming the first Singaporean in history to qualify for the Asian Games 10,000m final. [28]

On 5 December 2021, Soh broke his national record for the marathon when he ran 2:22:59 at the Valencia Marathon. This performance made him the first marathon runner in Singapore history to qualify for the Asian Games Marathon. [29]

On 17 February 2022, SNOC announced that Soh would be excluded from 2021 Southeast Asian Games that is to be held in Hanoi in May 2022 (which delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic). The basis for the exclusion was similar to that for his exclusion from the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, on his conduct and behaviour "continu[ing] to fall short" of the standards SNOC expected of its athletes.[7] He would not be competing in the 2022 Asian Games as well due to the same issue with SNOC.[30]

On 17 June 2022, Soh would overwrite his 2014 national record for the 10,000m track event with a timing of 31:12.05 at the England Athletics' Championships.[30]

On 25 March 2023, The Straits Times reported that Soh had been selected for the 2023 Southeast Asian Games by the Singapore National Olympic Council, bringing an end to years of dispute between the two parties; this allowed him to compete in the 5,000m and 10,000m events.[31] Soh finished 4th in the SEA Games 5,000m, just 4 seconds short of his own national record, while winning the silver medal in the 10,000m, ending Singapore's 40-year wait for a medal in the event. Soh arguably sacrificed his chance at winning in the name of sportsmanship when he opted to share his drink with Indonesia's Simbolon when the latter missed his drink with 2,250m to go in the race, rather than capitalise on the mishap. Simbolon eventually outlasted Soh on the last lap by less than 2 seconds to win the gold medal.[32]

In 2021, Soh signed a four year endorsement deal with Under Armour, an American apparel brand, to be part of its global athletes programme.[33] In the same year, Soh was signed on as a brand ambassador of Takagi Ramen, a Singapore ramen chain, and also gained sponsorship deal with Pocari Sweat, a Japanese isotonic drink brand.[34]

Soh has been internationally respected for his exemplar sportsmanship displayed in competition. First, when he stopped to wait for Ashley Liew when the latter tripped and fell in the 2012 Army Half Marathon, second, when we offered a drink to Indonesian rival Agus Prayogo when Prayogo missed his drink in the late stages of the 2017 SEA Games Marathon, and third, when he offered another Indonesian rival Rikki Marthin Luther Simbolon a drink after Simbolon missed his drink with 2,250 metres to go in the 2023 SEA Games 10,000m final. The third act of sportsmanship in particular attracted significant acclaim from the Indonesian sports fans and media, with the clip of the act of sportsmanship being viewed millions of times on social media. Soh became an online sensation, reaching viral status overnight.[54] [55][56]

Soh's third act of sportsmanship reached international media attention, being shared on multiple Singapore media platforms,[57][58] multiple Indonesian media platforms, and well as CBC Sports.[59]