NILAI: Rising star Nurul Izzah Asri capped a sensational outing at the National Track Cycling Championships today by capturing her fourth gold medal in the women's elite 500m time trial.
The pint-sized rider clocked 34.245 seconds at the National Velodrome in Nilai for the gold in her pet event, coming close to rewriting her national record of 34.226s set at the 2023 Asian Championships.
Selangor's Amber Yong picked up the silver with 36.006s, and Nurul Aliana Syafika Azizan of Penang settled for the bronze with 36.097s.
Kedahan Nurul, who also won the women's elite keirin, sprint, and team sprint gold, said that the four-gold medal haul is a morale booster before she heads to Europe for a training camp ahead of the Paris Olympics.
"Overall, I managed to maintain my form. My target is to improve my time in the sprint since the time trial event is not in the Olympics. My time has not been consistent, and I want to go sub-10 seconds," said the Paris Olympic-bound Izzah.
"I wanted to improve my aerodynamics and speed. This national championship is for me to test things and is a training platform."
"We don't train to break records... We just train in blocks to improve. It has been a while since I raced in the 500m time trial. It is a bit disappointing that I came so close to breaking the national record."
Another national cyclist, Ridwan Sharom, came close to breaking the national record in the men's elite 1km time trial after clocking 1:01.529 for the gold medal.
Hafiq Jafri of Melaka picked up the silver with 1:04.079, while Ahmad Safwan Ahmad Nazeri of Bucero Cycling completed the podium with 1:04.167.
Ridwan's national teammate, Fadhil Zonis, holds the national record of 1:00.305, which he set at the 2020 Berlin Track World Championships.