Malaysia bagged a "bonus" bronze medal from road cycling through national champion Nur Aiman Rosli in the men's individual time trial at the Hanoi Sea Games yesterday.
Aiman completed the 39.56km course in Hoa Binh in 48 minutes and 58.547 seconds.
Thailand's Peerapol Chawchiangkwang took the gold on 48:32.404s while Indonesia's Aiman Cahyadi (48:37.903s) came in second.
Malaysia's Shaiful Adlan Shukri finished ninth on 51:31.146s.
Team manager Firdaus Arshad said the performances of Aiman and Shaiful bode well for Malaysia's future in the event.
Aiman and Shaiful are both 23 and compete for continental outfit Team Sapura Cycling.
"Of course, we wanted to finish on the podium. However, we were not sure if it was possible.
"It is because we could not gauge the standard of our rivals due to Covid-19," said Firdaus.
"To claim a bronze is a bonus for us as our main medal targets were more towards the criterium and road races.
"Aiman was only roughly 30 seconds away from the gold medal time, while Shaiful did well to finish in the top-10.
"This is a good sign as both are only 23. With this, we can look ahead for better performance at the Cambodia edition next year."
Yeong Zhen Yi (22:00.164s) and Siti Nur Adibah Akma Fuad (22:29.953s) finished ninth and 10th in the women's individual time trial.
Indonesia's Delia Ayustina Priatna (20:01.832s) claimed the gold, while Singapore's Luo Yiwei came in second on 19:59.095s.
Thailand's Phetdarin Somrat (20:40.167s) completed the women's individual time trial podium.
Malaysia will compete in the men's mass start road race today.