KUALA LUMPUR – National sprint champion Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi kicked off the new season in style after clinching a gold and bronze respectively in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States on Saturday (Sunday morning Malaysian time).
At the Yellow Jacket Invitational at Georgia Tech, the national record holder representing Auburn University, Alabama, secured third place in the men’s 100m with a time of 10.38sec, according to https://live.pttiming.com/?mid=7087.
His teammate Makanakaishe Charamba came in second with a time of 10.28sec while another teammate Kanyinsola Ajayi clocked 10.21sec to emerge as the winner.
The men’s 100m bronze medallist at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games then helped the Auburn University men’s 4x100m relay team, also comprising Charamba, Ajayi and Dario Matau, win gold with an impressive time of 38.74sec.
Missouri Sports University’s quartet came in second place with a time of 40.59sec and third place went to Middle Tennessee University (40.71sec).
The championships marks Azeem’s first outdoor competition this year after participating in several indoor meets in the US since January.
This was also Azeem’s last championship during the Ramadan month. He will be focusing on training in addition to observing fasting while abroad.
For the record, Azeem’s best time last year was 10.11sec and his national record stands at 10.09sec set at the Under-20 World Sports Championship 2022 in Cali, Colombia.
Azeem, who will turn 20 next month, needs to clock under 10 seconds or better and place himself among the top-48 runners in the world rankings to realise his dream of making his Olympic debut in Paris in July.
Former national record-holder Watson Nyambek was the last Malaysian athlete to compete in the men’s 100m at the Olympics, at the Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 editions, while former Southeast Asian sprint king Nazmizan Muhammad was the last national representative to compete in the men’s 200m, at Athens 2004. – March 17, 2024