KUALA LUMPUR: Will the country’s athletics fans have the opportunity to witness the country’s sensational young sprinter Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi renew his 100 metre (m) national record at home?
It might just be possible, as the 19-year-old runner currently based in the United States, confirmed that he would be returning to compete in the Malaysian Open, expected to take place in July.
What’s encouraging is that after setting a season-best run of 10.11 seconds (s) at the Southeastern Conference (SEC) championship in Louisiana two weeks ago, the Perak-born athlete feels he is on track to erase his national record of 10.09s soon.
“It was 0.02s off the national record, it’s great, after all, I did it in the first term of 2023.
“I still have a long season, and I’m confident that I will be able to break my national record in a few months,” he said when contacted by Bernama today.
After the Malaysian Open, the student of Auburn University, Alabama, will face bigger competitions, namely the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok, Thailand in July, the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary (August) and the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games in September.
Muhammad Azeem, who was not with the national athletics squad for the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia recently, is also determined to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games before the end of the year.
“If there are no obstacles, I remain in good health and everything goes smoothly before 2024, I will try my best to qualify, because I want to make my job easier, qualify early, and then just maintain my performance. Overall, I am on a good track,“ he said.
Early today Malaysian time, Muhammad Azeem recorded a time of 10.04s with 5.5+ m/s wind assistance in the quarter-finals of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship division one competition in Jacksonville, Florida, thus failing to advance to the next round.
He admitted he was not at his best after suffering a groin injury which had forced him to rest and miss training for six days.
“I can say that after not training for a week, and still getting past the first round to reach the quarter-finals is a positive thing for me.
“Prior to this, if I was injured, I would usually withdraw (from the competition), but because this is my first year here, I’m trying to do something for myself and the country, maybe it’s not my time yet (to win something),“ he said.
Muhammad Azeem set the 100m national record at the Under-20 (U-20) World Athletics Championships in Cali, Colombia, last August, erasing the old record of 10.18s set by Khairul Hafiz Jantan at the 2016 Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Kuching, Sarawak.- Bernama
