AFTER a year in transition, lessons have been learnt. Now, national sprinter Mohd Azeem Fahmi (pic) plans to come back with a bang, after his disappointment in Paris.
The Auburn University student managed a poor 10.45s in the men’s 100m and finished last in heat two at the Stade de France. In the preliminaries, he came out second on 10.42s.
The 20-year-old, who holds the national record of 10.09s, had gone to Paris hoping to better his season’s best of 10.39s but could not do so.
A stumble off the starting block took off some of his momentum in the race, said Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) technical director Robert Ballard.
“He stumbled in his third step and tried to recover but it was not meant to be. In the last 20m, he did push himself hard, which epitomises his character as an athlete,” he said.
After the race, Azeem was emotional but Ballard said it was meant to happen as the Teluk Intan-born athlete was focused on giving his season best in Paris.
“Azeem is a young lad, so emotionally, it really brought him down because the whole year had been focused on the Olympics. He couldn’t do what he wanted, hence the emotional reaction.”
“We would like to assert that he is in a transition year. This is the first year where he is doing strength and power training, and lots of gym work. He is going from a teenager to a man,” said Ballard who added that Azeem was also incorporating new elements into his sprints and working on his physique.
“His form has been up and down but he will learn and become better as an athlete in the future. We have that belief and he has it in him too.”
Ballard said Azeem will return to the United States next week and have a sit down with coach Ken Harnden on his future.
“Coach Ken will be looking at all fronts when Azeem returns to Auburn. One must also understand that Azeem has been competing in two seasons, both in Asia and in America.
“In the American system, all the sprinters usually gear themselves for the World Championships and Olympics but it is different for Azeem.”
Azeem and Ballard will return to Malaysia on Wednesday afternoon.
