Kuala Lumpur: The 2017 Southeast Asean Sprint King, Khairul Hafiz Jantan is satisfied with the new combination of the newly minted men’s 4×100 metres (m) quartet that competed in the 2025 Super Series Athletics Championships here today. He said the championships which took place at the Merdeka Stadium was the first action for the quartet but had already shown good compatibility and hoped that this pairing would qualify for the Thai SEA Games this December. In today’s race, Khairul Hafiz was paired with Jonathan Nyepa, Pengiran Aidil Auf Hajam and Muhammad Zulfiqar Ismail but had to settle for the bronze medal with a time of 40.55 seconds (s).
According to BERNAMA News Agency, a German quartet comprising Kevin Kranz, Owen Ansah, Yannick Wolf and Lucas Ansah-Peprah managed to record the fastest time of 38.26 seconds while another German quartet won the silver medal with a time of 38.84s through Wagner Julian, Askovic Alexandar, Onuoha Chdiera and Gussmann Heiko. “Indeed, we hope that (this pairing) can qualify for the SEA Games. The important thing is that we can keep our medals. These four runners together with Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi, we are five runners. In relay event we have five to six people because in case anyone gets injured the extra runner can replace him,” he said after the race at the Merdeka Stadium today.
Meanwhile, the 27-year-old said there are still many things the quartet needs to improve, not to mention that the pairing will be in action at the 26th Asian Athletics Championships in South Korea at the end of May. He said he would submit it to the National Sports Institute (ISN) to re-evaluate the quartet’s combination. “Today is a new experience for this combination, we have to look back at how to run, how to pass the baton, what is lacking because this is our first tournament pairing, previously we only practiced two weeks before the championship,” he said.
Earlier the women’s 4x100m event saw the Malaysia Athletic Team win the silver medal with a time of 45.50s after losing to the German B quartet (43.43s) while the bronze medal went to the Kuala Selangor Team (58.61s). The national women’s quartet was lined up by Azreen Nabila Alias, Zaidatul Husniah Zulkipli, Nur Afrina Batrisyia and Izzatul Musfirah Ahmad Kamal.