KUALA LUMPUR: Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman acknowledged a mistake during the 113 Triathlon Desaru and said his status for the race has now been changed to 'DNF' or (did not finish).
In an Instagram post, Syed Saddiq explained that upon receiving detailed data from the technical team and cross-referencing it with his own smart watch data, he realised an error had occurred during the race.
"I suspected something amiss when I came back faster than expected in the first laps. I even checked with the technical team, but they too did not spot the mistake.
"However, now that the final data is out, I noticed that I accidentally cycled the Olympic Distance 12km loop in the first laps instead of the 30km triathlon loop.
"I had no issues with the last two (60km) laps. But in the first lap, I accidentally cycled the 12km loop instead of the 30km, and completed the three loops at 72km," he said in a brief video posted on his Instagram today.
Pointing to his Strava, Syed Saddiq said it was a genuine mistake and also apologised to the race organiser.
"Despite flagging the technical team about it, as a participant, I should have been more careful. I take full responsibility for the mistake.
"After discussing with the technical team and organisers we have agreed that my status should be DNF," he said in the video.
He said the organiser also acknowledged that it was a genuine mistake.