KUALA LUMPUR – National men’s track cyclist Muhammad Ridwan Sahrom is making it his mission to dip below the 10-second barrier this year.
This comes after his early exits in the sprint and keirin at the Nations Cup races in Hong Kong and Milton, Canada recently.
In Hong Kong, Ridwan posted a personal best of 10.027sec, but that time could not help him advance to the next round. Meanwhile, in Milton he improved his time by recording 10.023sec. However, it was still not good enough to carry him forward.
His time in Milton is only 0.008sec away from Jean Spies of South Africa, who occupied the last qualifying spot.
In the keirin, Ridwan was only 0.034sec behind Tokyo 2020 gold medallist in the team sprint Jeffrey Hoogland of the Netherlands in the first round repechage.
“I’m sad and happy. I’m sad because in the keirin I was so close to making it to the next round. Happy – because before this, the event was really tough for me as I hesitated to make decisions in the race.
“I’ve improved, but it was not meant to be in Milton.
“My mission this year is to dip below the 10-second mark. I have discussed this with (technical director) John Beasley.
“He said I can hit the mark next year, but I’m making it my mission to achieve 9.9sec this year,” the Johorian told Scoop after arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport today from Milton.
Meanwhile, Beasley is pleased with the 23-year-old’s performance in Milton.
“Ridwan did his fastest 200m time that he has ever done. We were hoping to break the 10s barrier but we just missed out.
“But for keirin, he did very well, he finished 13th and that’s our best performance this year outside of Datuk Azizulhasni Awang’s win in Adelaide.
“So, he has the second-best result in keirin for the team this year, so that is good for him,” said the Australian. – April 16, 2024