KUALA LUMPUR: Cyclist Nurul Izzah Izzati Asri has admitted her performance at last month’s World Championships in Santiago, Chile fell well short of expectations despite arriving at the meet on the back of a national record earlier this year.
The 22-year-old had travelled to Santiago with strong indicators after rewriting the national women’s sprint qualifying record in March.
She clocked 10.578s at the Nations Cup in Konya, Turkiye, erasing her previous mark of 10.658s set at the Asian Championships in Nilai in February. However, she clocked only 11.019s in the World Championships sprint qualifier.
“It was not the timing I wanted because I really hoped for sub-11. For me 11.019s was not what I targeted,” said Izzah.
She believes technical errors on the track and struggling to adapt to conditions at the Penalolen Velodrome contributed to the slow time.
“Maybe there were mistakes in my technique on the track,” she said.
“Every track is also different and the feel in Santiago was not the same as other tracks.”
Despite the disappointment, Izzah viewed the outing as part of her career development. “That was one of my learning processes to keep moving forward and learn what I can do better,” she said.
Izzah will now turn her focus to the Austral Wheelrace Championships in Australia from Dec 17-20, where she and junior rider Nur Alyssa Farid will be Malaysia’s two representatives.
The meet is a Class 2 event and carries significant ranking points under new rules which require riders to accumulate points to qualify for World Cups.
“We need to raise our points because now we must have enough points to enter the World Cup. That is why we are going to Australia, to collect points,” she said.
Izzah hopes the campaign will strengthen her position ahead of a demanding 2026 season that includes the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and a home World Cup meet in Nilai next April.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
