KUALA LUMPUR: National track cycling programme technical director John Beasley is excited to see how his newest star, Izzah Izzati Asri, will fare in her Olympic debut.
Beasley and Paris-bound trio Izzah, Shah Firdaus Sahrom and Azizulhasni Awang are currently undergoing their final preparations in Mallorca, Spain before heading to France on Aug 1.
Izzah, who turns 21 in September, is now armed with the latest WX-R Vorteq bike which has been customised to her requirements. The Vorteq, which is also used by Shah and Azizulhasni, was developed at a cost of RM7.5 million specifically for the Malaysia national team.
The Paris Olympics (Jul 26-Aug 11) is set to be her first competition using the new bike. She previously used an off-the-shelf model.
Beasley, who has guided the national team since 2006, is pleased with how Izzah is improving with every session on the new bike though he makes it clear that she is not yet the finished product.
"Izzah is just getting better and better every day with every session. Technically, Izzah is also progressing which is great," said Beasley recently.
"Hopefully under the big pressure of Paris we don't see Izzah go into her default mode.
"I am excited to see how Izzah will deal with Paris, what a great learning curve for her, this is great for her assault on Los Angeles 2028."
Izzah, who has already three Asian Championships gold medals to her name, is being groomed to become a medal contender at LA 2028.
In Paris, she will compete in both the keirin (Aug 7-8) — her favoured event — and the individual sprint (Aug 9-11). The track cycling competition will be held at Velodrome Nasional Saint Quentin en Yvelines.
Izzah is expected to race alongside some big names including current keirin world champion Ellese Andrews (New Zealand), former keirin world champion Lea Friedrich (Germany), Asian Games double gold medallist Mina Sato (Japan) as well as Great Britain's rising star Emma Finucane who is the current individual sprint world champion.
Mina and Finucane are both riders to whom Izzah looks up.