KUALA LUMPUR: Why is sprinter Azeem Fahmi's performance on the slide this season when he was supposed to be peaking for the stratospheric Paris Olympics?
Malaysian athletics fans must be wondering about this after the country's fastest man was eliminated in the heats yesterday at the Stade De France following a not-so-fast run.
Azeem only got the chance to appear in the Paris Olympics after he was given a wild card after failing to meet the qualifying standards.
Azeem clocked only 10.42s in the preliminary round yesterday, but it was enough to get him into the heats, which were of a higher level. But instead of running faster, he did a poor time of 10.45 to finish ninth and last.
Fans had hoped that Azeem could break his national record of 10.09 set two years ago, but he was nowhere close yesterday.
After his race, Azeem said he was disappointed with his time. The 20-year-old Perakian clearly lacked the strength and power, and this was obvious in Paris.
Azeem, who studies at Auburn University, had his American coach, Ken Harnden, with him in Paris, But it made little difference.
R. Jaganathan, who coached Rabuan Pit to the Asian Games 100m gold in 1982 in New Delhi, said Harnden would be the best person to answer for Azeem's disappointing result.
"Azeem has a good figure for a sprinter, but he's not able to peak at the right time. He must be under mental stress after his poor form in Paris.
"I'm not sure how Azeem trains in the United States, but only his coach can answer why he is not performing. Only his coach can groom him to peak at the right time.
"But Azeem did not get to focus much for the Olympics as he was only informed just weeks before that he would be going to Paris as a wild card,"
The Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF), the National Sports Council, and National Sports Institute need to find out why Azeem is struggling in competitions this season.
His performance has been lacklustre since winning the Asian Games 100m bronze in 10.11 in Hangzhou last October.
Coach Amir Izwan, who guided Azeem when he set the national record of 10.09 at the World Junior Championships in Cali, Colombia, in 2022, said he has been having a poor season.
"It's sad that Azeem could not achieve the results he wanted in Paris. He had trained hard but he just could not execute well what he learned in the United States in the race in Paris.
"He was mentally and physically in good shape, but his approach to the race was lacking. He needs to have a better psychological approach to competitions."