Brunei's Md Fakhri Ismail (C), Britain's Chijindu Ujah (L) and Bahrain's Kemarley Brown compete in the 100m round one at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro yesterday. Picture: AFP
MD FAKHRI Ismail failed to achieve his target of a new national record in the men’s 100m event but still got more than what he bargained for at the Rio Olympics yesterday.
Brunei’s fastest man managed to run twice after progressing into the first round of the event at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Fakhri crossed the line in third in Heat 3 of the preliminary round with a time of 10.92s to place eighth overall to advance into the first round. He led most of the race before getting overtaken by eventual winner Romand Teltull of Palau with 40m to go before Timothee Yap of Singapore edged ahead of him with 20m left.
The 25-year-old then finished at the end of the nine-competitor field in Heat 1 of the first round clocking a time 10.95s. Bahrain’s Kemarley Brown won the race tied with Great Britain’s Chijindu Ujah as they were credited with the same time of 10.13s.
The national record remains at 10.59s which Fakhri set during the heats at the 28th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in June last year.
Maizurah Abd Rahim is the other sprinter at the Aug 5-21 Olympics and she will lace up in the women’s 200m event on Monday.
