KUALA LUMPUR: After laying down some fast times in the men's individual sprint qualifiers on Wednesday, track cyclists Azizulhasni Awang and Shah Firdaus Sahrom proved that they have the pace to be serious contenders in the keirin which starts tomorrow.
Now, it is only a matter of tactical execution says national track cycling programme technical director John Beasley.
While outright pace can win races in the individual sprint, tactics play an especially important role in the keirin and riders must always be aware of what is going on during the race to avoid being caught in a position which would put them at a disadvantage.
Shah and Azizulhasni, a keirin bronze medallist at Rio 2016 and silver medallist at Tokyo 2020, will both be aiming to win the nation's first-ever Olympic gold when they take to the track at the Saint Quentin en Yvelines Velodrome.
"We are right where we want to be, speed-wise, heading into the keirin," said Beasley yesterday.
"We came to Paris to try to win the (keirin) gold medal and that is our whole focus. The individual sprint was a confidence (boosting) event and served as a good tune up.
"Datuk Azizulhasni has come out of it knowing that he has the speed to win the keirin and now we must execute well tactically, one race at a time."
Azizulhasni, 36, clocked a blistering 9.402 seconds to place 10th overall from 30 riders in the individual sprint qualifiers. The time bettered his own national record of 9.523s which he had set en route to gold at the Asian Championships in Nilai last year.
Shah, 28, also did well to clock a solid 9.635s, which was a personal best, to place 22nd overall. Azizulhasni's campaign ended in the third round while Shah did not make it past the opening round repechage.
With two days to rest, they will have the advantage of having fresher legs as their main threats in the keirin - Netherlands Harrie Lavreysen and Australian Matthew Richardson - as well as Great Britain's Jack Carlin and Jeffrey Hoogland (Netherlands) are competing in the final-four of the individual sprint later today.
The men's keirin event will begin with the first round followed by the first round repechages tomorrow. The quarterfinals, semi-finals and final will be held on Sunday.