KHAIRUL SMASHES JEGATHESAN’S 49-YEAR-OLD RECORD
Teenager smashes Jegathesan’s 49-year-old sprint record
AFTER 49 years, the men’s national 200m record finally fell as Khairul Hafiz Jantan cemented his place as one of the finest sprinters the country has produced.
Asian junior champion Khairul, 19, erased the oldest track record in the country at the Malaysian Open yesterday after winning the 200m final in 20.90 seconds.
Tan Sri Dr M. Jegathesan’s time of 20.92s had stood unchallenged since October 1968 at the Mexico City Olympics until Khairul’s feat at the National Stadium’s newly-laid turf in Bukit Jalil.
It went some way to soothe Khairul’s disappointment of being disqualified for a false start in the 100m final at the Asian Track and Field Championships in India earlier this month.
The 19-year-old sprinter, who already holds the 100m record of 10.18s, won by a five-metre margin as Jonathan Nyepa (21.29) and G. Aravinn Thevarr (21.31), second and third respectively, could come nowhere near Khairul.
Khairul, who also claimed the meet record of 20.94s from Kento Terada set in 1996, is now favourite to win a sprint double at the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games next month.
“I’m happy to have finally broken the 200m record,” said Khairul, who has a chance to end Malaysia’s 14-year gold medal drought in the Sea Games sprint events.
“After what happened in India. this was a bit unexpected but I just followed my coach’s instructions and ran a good race. I hope I can repeat this performance at the Sea Games where I want to lower the record to 21.80.”
Khairul’s record-breaking feat, however, still needs to be verified by the Malaysian Athletics Federation as the National Stadium track has yet to be certified by the international governing body IAAF.
“For national record purposes, MAF can ratify Khairul’s time,” said MAF president Datuk Karim Ibrahim. “The track will be certified in early August.”
Meanwhile, Chuah Yu Tian put her hand up for medal consideration at next month’s Sea Games after the pole vaulter equalled her personal best yesterday.
Yu Tian, 24, vaulted past 3.70 metres for an upset victory over 2015 Sea Games silver medallist Rachel Yang with the Singaporean settling for second on 3.60m.
This is the second time this year Yu Tian has cleared 3.70m, having first done so at a local meet in March, an effort which would have earned her a bronze medal at the last Sea Games in Singapore.