Story by Iman Hashim and Les Tan/Red Sports
Syazani (#392) of TP edges out Timothee Yap (#185) of NUS at the finish line. Hariz (#393) of TP was third. All three finished under 11s. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Saturday, January 14, 2017 — Muhammad Syazani bin Abdul Wahid, 19, sprang a surprise when he won the 100 metres gold at the Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IVP) Track and Field Championships.
In doing so, the Temasek Polytechnic (TP) athlete edged out Singapore’s Rio Olympics representative, Timothee Yap, 23, of the National University of Singapore (NUS). Syazani won in 10.94 seconds while Timothee finished 0.03s behind.
Muhammad Hariz bin Darajit, 19, also of TP, finished third in 10.98s to ensure the top three finished under 11s.
Prior to the gun, all eyes were on Timothee and Hariz.
Timothee’s personal best stands at 10.62s, clocked at the Santo Antonio Meeting in Portugal in June 2016, which earned him the wildcard to represent Singapore at the Rio Olympics. He was also the defending IVP champion, winning last year’s race in 10.52s with a strong tailwind of 2.8m/s.
Hariz’s best timing is 10.85s, clocked at the Singapore Athletics (SA) Series 2 in February 2016. He had also clocked a wind-aided 10.72s (+2.3m/s) in the heats of the 48th SA Inter-Club Championships in October 2016, and was also the POL-ITE 100m champion in 10.86s.
Syazani, meanwhile, had yet to break the 11-second barrier before these championships, with a personal best of 11.08s at the aforementioned POL-ITE meet last November.
Earlier in the afternoon, Timothee was the fastest qualifier in the heats with a time of 10.82s, followed by Hariz (11.09s) and Syazani (11.12s).
Yet, when the gun went off in the final, Syazani took everyone – including himself – by surprise, bursting from his blocks in lane three and dipping marginally ahead of his competition at the finish.
Said Syazani, “I didn’t really expect the win. In my mind before the race, I just wanted a PB, that was my mindset. I just wanted to break the 11-second barrier. I just aimed for a good start, and now I just feel happy because I didn’t expect to win gold.”
Syazani’s victory, however, came as no surprise to his coach and former national sprinter Hamkah Afik.
Hamkah reasoned, “To me, it was just a matter of time before he broke the 11-second barrier. He has been looking sharp and coming up really well in training.”
“Today, I just told him what to do at the acceleration phase and transition phase, then I told him exactly what to do at the deceleration phase, and he executed all three phases quite well.”
“So in a sense, today he rose to the occasion. And I’m happy for him because for a long while now, he has been running around an 11.1s consistently in the last couple of races. So 10.94s is quite a massive PB for him.”
Later in the afternoon, Syazani and Hariz teamed up with Daryl Shane Lee and Alex Rodney Koh in the 4x100m relay to help TP finish as first qualifier for the final, clocking 42.73s.
The championships resume on January 18, with the final day on January 21.
IVP Men’s 100m Final Results
1st Muhammad Syazani B Abdul Wahid (#392, TP) – 10.94s
2nd Timothee Yap (#185, NUS) – 10.97s
3rd Muhammad Hariz B Darajit (#393, TP) – 10.98s
4th Rodney Philp Manega (#53, NP) – 11.08s
5th Daryl Liew (#269, RP) – 11.19s
6th Clement Chan (#147, NUS) – 11.27s
7th Edwin Sim Shi Jie (#236, NYP) – 11.30s
8th Nur Haqim (#276, RP) – 11.36s
More photos next page
They should all sign up for the National Rugby 7s program.