TRACK cyclist Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom, 28, managed to squeeze into the keirin final at the Paris Olympic Games but was relegated in the final after being involved in a nasty accident in the final lap at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome today.
He qualified for the final as the third fastest rider in his semi-final race, following the relegation of Japanese rider Kaiya Ota for a technical infringement.
The Malaysian camp celebrated Shah Firdaus’ final qualification, especially after their former world keirin champion and medal hopeful Datuk Azizulhasni Awang was disqualified in the first-round heat for overtaking the derny before it pulled off the track.
But their joy was short-lived. Aside from the crash, Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands proved unbeatable to clinch the gold medal. He was followed by Australian riders Matthew Richardson and Matthew Glaetzer of Australia, who won the silver and bronze medals respectively.
Jack Carlin of Britain and Nakano Shinji of Japan, who were involved in the nasty crash with Shah Firdaus, did not finish the race. All three were sent tumbling across the track in the high-speed crash. They, however, managed to walk away after treatment.
Lavreysen, 27, once again demonstrated his dominance by completing a hat-trick of gold medals, having already retained his titles in the sprint and team sprint events. Known as “The Beast,” he became the first Dutchman to win five Olympic gold medals.
Yesterday, Shah Firdaus overcame a relegation setback in the heats for an infringement to secure top place in the repechage Heat 3 and book his place in the quarter-finals.
For Shah Firdaus, there is some consolation as in the preceding Tokyo Olympics, he missed out on a place in the keirin semi-finals after finishing last out of the six riders in Heat Two of the quarter-finals.
As for Azizulhasni, now 36 years old, the chances of him making his sixth Olympic appearance in Los Angeles four years from now, look dim.
Malaysia finished its challenge in the Paris Olympic Games with two bronze medals, earned by the men’s doubles pair of Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and men’s singles player Lee Zii Jia.
Story and pix by K.H. Ong