NILAI: National track cyclist Mohd Shah Firdaus Sahrom ended his Track World Cup campaign on a promising note to raise hope ahead of the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya in September.
The 31-year-old clocked 9.895s, a sub-10 for the first time since undergoing an operation on his right knee in September last year.
He lost to Italian Mattia Predomo in the second round of the sprint competition at the National Velodrome in Nilai.
Shah Firdaus said he was satisfied for coming close to his personal best time of 9.481s, which he recorded at the last edition in Turkiye last year.
"I was able to dip under 10 seconds, which is my personal best this season since my surgery. It is a positive development," he said.
"I was able to do 9.8s just about one week of hard training and got near my best time of 9.4s. I'm on the right track for the Asian Games.
"I was able to use a bigger gear and accelerate without any pain today.
"I was close in the second round (against Predomo) but was just lacking the acceleration I usually have.'"
Shah Firdaus had clocked 10.75s, using a smaller gear, during the Hong Kong leg of the World Cup last week.
He missed the top 28 cut for the first round after finishing 39th.
Shah Firdaus, who had been battling tendon issues over the past few seasons, said going under the surgeon's knife was the right move.
"I had been struggling with this injury for a long time and had to take painkillers when racing," said Shah Firdaus.
"The surgery was the right move as it has now given me time to recover my form before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Shah Firdaus was eliminated in the first round of the keirin on Saturday after he failed to finish in the top two in the repechage.
