The fastest man in Malaysia

Sarawakian Jonathan prevents 1-2 finish for Malacca in 100m final

KUCHING: It was shaping up to be the race of the Games. And it lived up to that promise yesterday when Khairul Hafiz Jantan led the nation’s new generation of sprinters to shatter Watson Nyambek’s 18-year-old national record in the 100m.

Already the traditional blue riband event in any multi-sports games, the men’s 100m for the 18th Sukma had the ingredients for a brilliant race. Weather conditions were almost perfect, a warm afternoon with a tail wind.

The Malacca duo of Badrul Hisyam Abdul Manap and Khairul were the pre-race favourites. Badrul ended last year by winning the ASEAN Schools title in a sensational 10.29sec which was 0.01sec better than the national record held by Sarawak’s Watson Nyambek. But it was not ratifi ed as a record due to a faulty wind gauge.

The 19-year-old followed that up this year by winning the Pahang Open in March with a personal best of 10.34 in the heats and then the Philippines Open title with a 10.39. However, it was fellow training mate Khairul who has gained the upperhand since June.

The 18-year-old ran a personal best of 10.36 to win the Asian Junior title in Vietnam last month. Badrul was fifth.

Both just returned from Poland after representing Malaysia in the World Under-20 Championships last week. Competing against the world’s elite, it was Khairul who upstaged Badrul again by clocking a superior 10.44sec in the heats to enter the semi-fi nals. He failed to qualify for the fi nal after a poor 10.58.

Hosts Sarawak had a keen interest in yesterday’s race in the person of Jonathan Nyepa. Jonathan had a disappointing Sukma debut in 2014. He ran the fastest in the heats with 10.64sec. But his dreams were dashed when he false-started and was disqualifi ed in the semifi nals. Jonathan entered yesterday’s fi nal as a serious challenger.

2016 has been his best year since he started representing Malaysia in 2014.

He cut his personal best to 10.53sec when he won an invitational meet in Singapore in Feb. In May, he won the bronze with a time of 10.55 at the Taiwan Open. Badrul was fourth. Two weeks ago, the 20-year-old won the ASEAN University title with 10.62.

Bintulu-born Jonathan received the loudest cheers when the fi nalists got down to their blocks at 3.40pm at the Stadium Sarawak yesterday. The race was tight for the first 30m.

Then Khairul edged ahead and never looked back. He could afford to raise both hands in triumph as he crossed the fi nishing line in 10.18sec.

The champion was unassuming but quickly recogni sed the signifi cance of his achievement. “I never expected to break the national record but it was Badrul who had actually given me the strength to push further and enabled me to achieve this feat.

The record had stood for so long,” he said. Jonathan just pipped Badrul in a photo-fi nish. Both were credited with the identical time of 10.36. It was a personal best for the Sarawakian. He is now the second fastest Sarawakian in history after Watson’s 10.30. “I had a good start.

I felt good … He (Khairul) was fast but this only means that I need to train further to catch up,” he said. The three will face off again in the 4x100m relay at 4.30pm today (July 28) and 200m at 9.30am on Friday (July 29). The trio also made history as never have there been three Malaysians dipping below 10.40sec in one race for the 100m. Wind speed for the race was 1.1m/s (below the 2.0 legal limit).