KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's Azeem Fahmi clocked 20.83s to qualify for the 200m semi-finals of the World Junior Athletics Championships in Cali, Colombia, today.
The 20.83, which is Azeem's personal best, is just 0.06 second off the national 200m record of 20.77 set by Russel Alexander Nasir Taib in 2019.
The Perak sprinter, who set a national record of 10.09 in the 100m heats on Monday, ran in lane eight today and finished ahead of Australian Adrian Murphy and Jaamican Bryan Levell who both clocked 20.85. Murphy finished second.
The top three finishers in each of the seven heats qualified for the semi-finals.
Botswana's Letsile Tebogo, who broke the 100m world junior record on Monday by posting 9.91, won his 200m heat by setting a meet record of 19.99.
Azeem clocked the ninth fastest time in the 200m heats. Akawasi Afrifah Blessing of Israel clocked the second fastest time of 20.37 followed by Britain's Jeriel Quaindo (20.56), Thailand's Puripol Boonson (20.68) and Calab Law of Australia (20.72).
Coach Amir Izwan said he was satisfied with Azeem's race in the heats.
"But he needs to clock a much better time in the semi-finals to qualify for the final," said Amir.