KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian track cyclists for the Paris Olympics will receive new bikes for the races at the Velodrome National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
The National Sports Institute (NSI) has been developing bikes since 2017, and for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, they collaborated with UK computational fluid dynamics specialist Totalsim Ltd to provide bikes for Azizulhasni Awang and Shah Firdaus Sahrom at a cost of roughly RM13 million.
The bikes, made with a mix of titanium and carbon fibre, are said to be the lightest, stiffest, and most aerodynamic in the world in their class, when they were launched in 2020.
National coach John Beasley said Azizulhasni; Shah and Olympic debutant Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri will receive the 'Olympic bikes'.
The Australian coach added that he and Azizul will leave for London next week to conduct aero tests.
"There are a lot of small gains for her (Nurul), she had no aero gains before. She will have the package together, which will help her performance.
"It's very similar to the Tokyo Olympic bikes; we had a couple of years to tweak it a bit. It looks the same, but obviously, the technology has improved with the carbon."
Beasley added that the trio will be based in Europe for almost two months as part of their final preparations for the Paris Games.