PETALING JAYA: Mohd Azeem Fahmi advanced to the semi-finals of the 200m at the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia after breaking the national under-20 record on Wednesday.
After setting a new national senior record in the men's 100m (10.09s), the 18-year-old clocked 20.83s to win his preliminary heat to finish ahead of Australia's Aidan Murphy (20.85s) and Jamaica's Bryan Levell (20.85s), advancing to the semi-finals that will be held later on the same day.
His time was the ninth fastest. The top three finishers in each of the seven heats qualified for the semi-finals.
Botswana's Letsile Tebogo, who broke the 100m world junior record on Monday by posting 9.91s, laid down the marker by winning his 200m heat in a new meet record of 19.99s.
Azeem's personal best is just 0.06 second off the national 200m record of 20.77s set by Russel Alexander Nasir Taib in 2019.
