KUALA LUMPUR — National sprint champion Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the 100m dash at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, early this morning, local time.
In the first round competition at the National Sports Centre, Muhammad Azeem who ran in heat four, finished the race in seventh place out of eight participants with a time of 10.26s.
The gold medal winner of the 2022 World Under-20 (U-20) Athletics Championships, Letsile Tebogo from Botswana came in first place after clocking 10.11s followed by Rohan Browning of Australia who shared the same time, but the winner was determined by photo finish.
Third place belonged to Great Britain’s Reece Prescod who posted 10.14s, thus accompanying Tebogo and Browning to confirm a place on the semi-final stage.
Earlier in the qualifying round, Muhammad Azeem clocked 10.24s in heat two to qualify for the first round.
Muhammad Azeem, who is making his debut at the World Championships this year, is the 100m national record holder with a time of 10.09s that he set at the U-20 World Athletics Championships in Cali, Colombia in August last year.
The 19-year-old Perak-born athlete’s best time this season was 10.11s which he did in the United States last May.
He is expected to compete at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games next month after not being with the national athletics squad at the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia, last May, in his quest for a ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics. — August 20, 2024