KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian track cycling talent Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri will be gunning for a breakthrough achievement when she dons her skinsuit for the World Championships in Santiago, Chile.
Izzah will get her campaign underway in the qualifying rounds for the women’s individual sprint event today while the keirin will be held on Sunday.
National track cycling head coach Harnizam Basri is expecting Izzah to attempt to break her national record in the individual sprint event (flying 200m time trial) and also try to qualify for the keirin final for the first time at the Penalolen Velodrome.
A knee injury has sidelined Mohd Shah Firdaus Sahrom, thus leaving 22-year-old Izzah as Malaysia’s sole representative at the world meet this year.
“Our main target for Izzah here is to break her own personal best (national record), which she had previously set earlier this year,” said Harnizam.
“We know it will be tough in the keirin but the target is for her to reach the final.
“She did well to finish seventh overall in the keirin last year so this (reaching final) is the next step for her.”
Izzah has consistently improved her personal best over 200m, a key indicator of how strong a track sprinter she is, over the past few seasons.
She most recently renewed her own national record over the distance during the UCI Track Nations Cup in Konya, Turkiye, in March where she clocked 10.578s.
Izzah clocked 10.685 in the sprint at the Asian Championships in Nilai in February where she claimed bronze. She bagged gold medals in keirin and the 1km time trial at the Asian meet.
The Kedah-born cyclist reached the keirin semi-finals for the first time and later won the 7-12th place decider at the world meet in Denmark last year.
Izzah and Shah Firdaus are the only cyclists put under the Road to Gold programme geared towards the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
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