KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's fastest man, Azeem Fahmi, was not so fast at the Paris Olympics today.
Running in lane eight, he clocked a "slow time" of 10.45s in his heat and finished ninth and last.
It was way off Azeem's national record of 10.09. And he didn't even come close to his season best of 10.36.
At the other end, Azeem did better in the preliminary round, held 80 minutes before the heats today. He clocked 10.42 to finish second.
The speedster has been far from his best, and even the electrifying atmosphere of the Paris Olympics failed to ignite him.
Comparatively, Azeem ran better last year, posting 10.11 to win bronze in the Hangzhou Asian Games.
The 20-year-old Perakian did not hide his disappointment with his performance.
"It was not the result that I wanted, and everyone knew that I did not have a good season.
"It was a disappointing race. I never thought that my performance would drop drastically.
"But it was a good learning experience for me and I still have a long way to go," said Azeem who was making his Olympic debut in Paris.
"I hope to make amends by improving every aspect and my next aim is to qualify on merit for Los Angeles in 2028," he added,
Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya won the heat, that Azeem raced in, with a time of 10.08 while Italy's Chituru Ali was second with 10.12. Germany's Joshua Hartmann was third (10.16).
The top three runners from each of the eight heats, plus the next three fastest, advanced to the semi-finals.
Puripol Boonson of Thailand posted 10.13 in his heat to finish third and qualify for the semi-finals.