Nik Hafiz smashes 800m record with first-lap blitz

KUALA LUMPUR: Nik Hafiz Nik Mohd’s gamble to go all out in the first lap paid off handsomely when he broke the boys’ Under-18 800m record by more than two seconds in the national schools (MSSM) athletics championships at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

Nik Hafiz blitzed the first 400m in 53 seconds en route to clocking a personal best of 1:53.66 in the two-lap race. His effort erased the old mark of 1:56.22 set by Penang’s J. Thinagaran in Selangor last year.