KUCHING: Khairul Hafiz Jantan is officially Malaysia’s fastest ever sprinter after winning the Malaysia Games 100m gold medal, obliterating Watson Nyambek's national record in a blistering 10.18 seconds at the Sarawak Stadium, today.
The Malacca athlete broke clear of the field at the halfway mark to cross the finish line an undisputed champion, with Sarawak's Jonathan Nyepa edging Malacca's Badrul Hisyam Manap in a photo-finish for silver after both timed 10.36s.
Sarawak's Watson had set the previous record of 10.30 seconds on 15 July, 1998, a week before Khairul Hafiz was born.
"I never expected to break the national record as my intention was only to beat Badrul to the gold medal," said Khairul Hafiz, who won 100m gold at the Asian Junior Championships in Vietnam last month. "He was actually the one who pushed me to break the national record."
After speaking to reporters, Khairul Hafiz raced to embrace his father and wept openly.
Khairul Hafiz, 18, had given warning of what to come when he ran 10.44 seconds in the morning's semi-finals when it looked like he still had plenty in reserve.
He made a clean start in the final and once he had the lead, there was no denying Khairul Hafiz the gold medal with his time also a significant improvement on his personal best of 10.36.
Khairul Hafiz has a chance of winning a golden treble when he runs in the 200m and 4x100m events in the coming days.