Azeem Fahmi Clocks 10.63s in 100m

Muhammad Azeem Fahmi unleashes storming 100m performance by clocking a time of 10.63s to win the Malaysian school championships in Iskandar Puteri, Johor today (21 April).

He ran against a strong headwind of -1.8 m/s. This would have been around 10.54 under 0.0 m/s condition. Given +1.8 tailwinds his time would be translated to 10.45!.

The 15-year-old Perakian powered forward at the start, seizing control of the race after just a few metres, and then pulls away from the field in the midway.

He renewed his own championship record in the process.

Azeem sent a strong message during semifinals by "jogging" to a new championship record of 10.72, breaking his own record of 10.87 that he set during the last edition. He was 14 back then.

His 10.63 performance in the national school meeting would have won a medal in the last edition of IAAF World youth championships.

Sabah's Hanssen Yap was in second (11.15) while Sarawak's Audray Hilla third in 11.17.

Personal Details

Name: Muhammad Azeem bin Mohd Fahmi
Date of birth: 29 April 2004
Hometown: Teluk Intan, Perak
Coach: Muhammad Amir Izwan
Development: State sports school of Perak
Training ground: Gunung Rapat, Ipoh

Progress in sprint events
2019 - 15 years
100m 10.63
200m 21.24

2018 - 14 years
100m 10.78 / 10.5h
200m 21.70

2017 - 13 years
100m 11.23

2016 - 12 years
100m 12.76

Azeem's achievements (as of today) *updated 25 April

2019
National Schools (MSSM Championships), Iskandar Puteri
100m - Gold medal (10.63s)
200m - Gold medal (21.24s)
Long Jump - Gold medal (6.93m)
4x400m - Gold medal (3:24.69)

Little Athletics, Perth, Australia
100m - Gold medal (10.84s)
200m - Gold medal (21.50s)

SEA Youth championship, Ilagan, Philippine
100m - Gold medal (10.69s)
200m - Gold medal (21.86s)

State Schools (Perak Schools Championships)
100m - Gold medal (10.4h)
200m - Gold medal (21.2h)
Long Jump - Gold medal (6.77m)

2018
National Schools (MSSM Championships), Shah Alam
100m - Gold medal (10.78s)
200m - Gold medal (21.70s)

State Schools (Perak Schools Championship)
100m - Gold medal (10.6h)
200m - Gold medal (21.9h)

Read more...

Best Performances of the Malaysia Open Grand Prix 2019

Team Malaysia wrapped up the 1st Malaysia Open Grand Prix with a haul of 8 GOLD, 15 SILVER, and 14 BRONZE, ahead of Kyrgyzstan (5-1-0), South Korea (4-6-4), and Chinese Taipei (4-4-4).

Irrespective of nationality, the best performance of the meet came from (no special order):
> Men's 100m - Lalu Muhammad Zohri (INA) 10.20
> Men’s 400mh – Chen Chieh (TPE) 49.77
> Men’s High Jump - Lee Hup Wei (MAS) 2.27m
> Men's long jump - Sapwaturrahman (INA) 7.97m
> Men’s shot put – Ivan Ivanov (KAZ) 19.53m
> Men's discus throw - Musab Momani (JOR) 56.16m
> Men’s hammer throw - Lee Ywunchul (KOR) 70.70m
> Women’s 100mh – Emilia Nova (INA) 13.59
> Women’s hammer throw – Park Seojin (KOR) 49.52m

Southeast Asian Best Performances (SEA Games GOLD standard)
> Men's 100m - Lalu Muhammad Zohri (INA) 10.20
> Men’s High Jump - Lee Hup Wei (MAS) 2.27m
> Men's long jump - Sapwaturrahman (INA) 7.97m
> Men’s hammer throw – Jackie Wong (MAS) 65.87m

Southeast Asian Best Performances (SEA Games MEDAL standard)
> Men’s 200m – Russel Taib (MAS) 21.12
> Men’s 400m - Luqmanul Hakim Khairul Akmal (MAS) 46.92
> Men’s long jump - Andre Anuar (MAS) 7.72m
> Men’s triple jump - Muhammad Hakimi Ismail (MAS) 16.16m
> Men’s discus throw - Abdul Rahman Lee (MAS) 50.03m

Download full results (Malaysia Open GP)

Read more...

How did a false start rule of 0.10s or 100 ms determined?

Disqualification often occurs in sprint events from a false start. Example, read here.  

For a false start offence, the IAAF has set a limit of 0.100s or 100 ms reaction. Meaning that, when an athlete register a time of 0.999s (99 ms) or less, he or she will be convicted of a false start offence, and disqualified.

How did they come up with such a rule?

Since 1991, the 100 ms limit was included in the IAAF rule book; decided during the IAAF Congress in 1989 at Barcelona.

There is a mechanism of human reaction time, or how the 100 ms becomes a threshold.

• When the starter pull the trigger, the time will start. Actually it takes approximately 5 ms to reach the ear.
• Then, the signal is processed within the cerebral cortex in the brain, and this stage alone takes approximately 50 ms.
• Subsequently, the signal is sent to the muscles via spinal cord. This process takes around 25 ms.
• In addition, there is a mechanical delay of approximately 10 ms, before the onset of force production.
• From there, the athlete start to produce force (to move). The force production itself will take time. 

Therefore, 5 + 50 + 25 + 10 + force production time will be approximately 100 ms. These durations are not exactly, may be more, may be less.

There is a level of force production that can be allowed, but if the force is excessively higher (before 100 ms), then the system register as false start. 

Currently, the threshold of force production that is allowed (before 100 ms) is relatively unclear. 

So there is also the possibility of committing a false start by just a "twitching" or "flinching" motion (eg, minor slip) on the block pedals.

It is important that if the gun is located 10m away from the athlete, there is a signal delay of 0.029s (29 ms) after firing the gun. This can be subsided by using a speaker placed on each blocks, which significantly reduces the delay, ie, only ~5 ms as noted above.

Scientific research

Scientists Mero and Komi studied human reaction in the early 1990s. They recruited 8 sprinters (PB ~10.76) to participate in their study. Interestingly, they found that different muscles (of the leg) produced different response time in response to a stimulus.

Human can actually react in less than 100 ms. The IAAF in 2009 confirmed this assertion. The IAAF published a report that scientists "found great variation in individual reaction times and confirmed previous reports of simple auditory reactions as fast as 80 ms."

The scientists then "recommend that the 100ms limit be lowered to 80 or 85ms"

The report also state that and "the IAAF urgently examines possibilities for detecting false starts kinematically, so that judges’ decisions are based on the first visible movement regardless of the body part."

The above can be done "with a system of high-speed cameras, which gives views of all the athletes on the start line."

More recently, scientists found that reaction time detected using a hand force plate occurred approximately 74 ms (Harrison et al., 2018).

Interestingly, a 0.086s reaction time made by Asafa Powell in the world championships in 2003, resulted in a disqualification.  

Thus, it is possible that human reaction time vary, possibly technology dependent, and cannot be confined by an arbitrary threshold (ie, 100 ms).

A good alternative of solution is therefore vital, so, the is a need for a false start (ie, 100 ms) rule changes. However, there is no easy way to handle this issue.

What can be done from here

• First, the 100 ms rule may be lowered to 80 or 85 ms. 
• Second, if the 100 ms threshold remains, athlete must be allowed to run under protest (if register a reaction time between 80/85ms to 99 ms), and only be investigated subsequently, thoroughly, including by scrutinizing the newly established high speed camera system to (see actual movement) determine if false start was committed or not.
• Third, any reaction between 991 to 999 ms will be rounded up to 100 ms, just like what we see in the official results, eg, 9.791s becomes 9.80s.
• Fourth, amend the rule slightly. So, if one registers 990 to 999 ms reaction time, only a yellow card will be given, and allowed to run once again, and advised to be careful. A repeated 'offence' gets a red card.

Additionally, here is a list of sprinters who can be considered to having the fastest reaction times.

• 0.100 s - Jon Drummond USA, Monaco, 1993
• 0.101 s - Bruny Surin CAN, Seville (world championships), 1999
• 0.104 s - Tim Montgomery USA, Paris, 2002

Finally, believe it or not, during the 1991 world championships in Tokyo, Dennis Mitchell recorded a reaction time of 0.090s en-route to finishing the 100m final in 3rd place, without being disqualified (ie, accepted by the IAAF).  

Read more...

Lalu Zohri Wins 10.20 in Malaysia Open GP 2019

The first day (30 March) of the 2019 Malaysia Open Grand Prix in Kuala Lumpur provided some exciting and top class performances.

But the performances at Bukit Jalil Stadium were dominated by Malaysian athletes who collected 5 gold medals (out of 13), 6 silver, and 6 bronze.

Nevertheless, the best performances of the day in "continental terms" came from several events including the men's 100m, 400m hurdles, shot put, and long jump.

As anticipated, Indonesia's Lalu Muhammad Zohri, the gold medalist of the 2018 World U20 championships took the victory in the century dash with a time of 10.20 (+0.1), a mere less than his personal best of 10.18, which was set during the gold medal-winning of the world juniors.

Men's 100m finals in Malaysian open GP 2019

A 10.20 clocking also equaled his time during the last Asian Games in Jakarta where he finished in seventh place.

The 19-year-old did not get a good start but seen dominant enough at the second half of the century dash, much more like of Carl Lewis. He covered the distance in 45 steps.

Lalu Zohri was first known as he run 10.25 last year during the pre-Asian Games meeting in February last year at Jakarta.

He now has nine sub-10.30 performances (10.18 to 10.28) including two from the present international meeting.

Malaysia's Zulfiqar Ismail was distant away and crosses the line in second in 10.41, right ahead of Chinese Taipei's Wei-Hsu Wang (10.44) and Malaysia's Muhammad Haiqal Hanafi (10.46).

Lalu Zohri with Malaysian sprinters Haiqal (left) and Zulfiqar (right)

In the men's long jump, Asian games bronze medalist Sapwatturahman has registered 7.97m (+0.5) to win his pet event while Malaysian youngster Andre Anura had a new personal best of 7.72m (+0.8) in second.

Chinese Taipei's Chen Chieh took the victory in the men's 400m hurdles in a fast time of 49.77s. The Taiwanese has a personal best of 49.05. His teammate Ming-Yang Peng was trailing in second in 50.21.

Jordan's Musab Al-Momani who came with a lifetime best of 62.64m had no problem to win the men's discus throw in 56.16m.

Ivan Ivanov of Kazakhstan had the longest throw after registering 19.53m from his third attempt to win the men's shot put, beating South Korea's Jung Ilwoo in second place (19.08m). The 6-foot-8 Kazakhstani has a lifetime best of 20-m.

Ivan Ivanov throws 19.53m

In the women's 100m, Kirghizistan's Anna Bulanova recorded a lifetime best of 11.75 (0.0) to win the women's 100m. Chinese Taipei's Chia Chen Hu was second in 11.89. Three Malaysians Siti Fatimah Mohamad (11.91), Komalam Shally Selveratnam (11.94), and Azreen Nabila Alias (12.04) were in 3rd to 5th places.

The five gold medals won by Team Malaysia came from Iskandar Alwi in the men's pole vault (5.20m), Royson Vincent in the men's 800m (1:51.11), Connie Choo Kang Ni in women's discus throw (44.39m), Kirthana Ramasamy in women's triple jump (13.17m), and Mandy Goh i in women's 400mh (64.91).

Visit the Facebook page for detailed results.

Read more...

Rayzam Shah runs 13.82 at Singapore Open 2019

Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian has clocked a time 13.82 (+0.5) en route to grabbing a bronze medal during the 81st Singapore Open Track and Field Championships today (28 March 2019), which bettered his winning time (13.83) in the last SEA Games.

He achieved the effort after recording a season-best of 13.89 (0.0) during the heats. Both results show that he is ready to challenge his two-year-old national record of 13.67.

Hong Kong's Mui Ching Yung and Chan Chung Wang were neck-to-neck through the line in an identical time of 13.77.

Meanwhile, in the men's triple jump, Malaysia's Muhammad Hakimi Ismail has beaten his SEA Games main rival, Mark Harry Diones of the Philippines by just a 5 cm margin in a distance of 16.01m.

Philippine's Kristina Marie Knott whose personal record is 23.23 has beaten Singapore's former SEA Games champion Veronica Shanti Pereira in the women's 200m, 23.79 over 23.85.

Thailand's Natta Nachan clinched the women's javelin gold medal after throwing a distance of 52.57m.

Selected results as follows;

MEN

200m final (+0.8)
1. Reuben Lee Siong En (SGP) 21.64
2. Mohamad Idris (BRU) 21.65
3. Kei Takase(JPN) 21.66

800m
1. Tatsuy Nishikubo (JPN) 1:50.83
2. Marco Volog (PHI) 1:51.63
3. Phuoc Luong Duc (VIE) 1:56.14

110m hurdles
1. Mui Ching Yung (HKG) 13.77
2. Chan Chung Wang (HKG) 13.77
3. Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian 13.82

Triple Jump
1. Muhammad Hakimi Ismail 16.01 (0.0)
2. Mark Harry Diones (PHI) 15.96
3. Pratchaya Tepparak (THA) 15.85


WOMEN

200m final (+0.6)
1. Kristina Knott (PHI) 23.79
2. Veronica Pereira (SGP) 23.85
3. Alvin Tehupeiory (INA) 24.23

800m
1. Agustina Manik (INA) 2:11.88
2. Narumi Uchiyama (JPN) 2:14.63
3. Aung Aye Aye (MYA) 2:15.23

Triple Jump
1. Parinya Chuaimaroeng (THA) 13.42 (0.0)
2. Tio Rozario (SGP) 12.16 (0.0)
3. Wai Ann Lee (SGP) 11.75 (0.0)

Javelin Throw
1. Natta Nachan (THA) 52.57
2. Gim Gyeong Ae (KOR) 50.40
3. Heo Hyo Jeong (KOR) 49.87


UPDATE:

Download full results (Singapore Open Track & Field 2019)

Read more...

Russel Taib Renews Malaysian 200m Record in 20.77s

Australian based Malaysian sprinter Russel Taib has broken Khairul Hafiz's national record in the men's 200m with a time of 20.77s during the 2019 Queensland Track Classic at Brisbane, Australia today (23/3/2019).

Official results

He achieved the time with a wind reading of 2.0 m/s, just inside the allowed limit of +2.0m/s as set by the International Association of Athletics Federations.

Japan's Kei Takase won the B race right in front of Russel in 20.75s while South Korea's Lee Jae-Ha came third in 20.91s.

During the Malaysian Games in 2018, the Asian Youth bronze medalist came only third at 200m (21.30s), however, right on the same track earlier in January this year, the 21-year-old came very close to beating Khairul Hafiz's record during the Shield athletics meeting by recording 20.94s (+1.8).

For a record, Khairul Hafiz held Malaysian 200m record of 20.90s after breaking M.Jegathesan's national record of 20.92s which has stood for 49 years during the Malaysian national championships in 2017.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Hakimi Ismail cinched the gold medal in the men's triple jump with a wind-aided jump of 16.47m (+3.1), which he set during his last attempt.

He also recorded a seasonal best of 16.02m (+1.4 m/s) from the 2nd attempt.

The two-time SEA Games champion whose personal best is 16.77m (i.e. SEA Games record) is currently 2nd on the Southeast Asian ranking lists.

Mark Harry Diones of the Philippines, Hakimi's SEA Games main rival has registered 16.08s earlier this month during the Philippine national championships at Ilagan.

High Jumpers Lee Hup Wei and Nauraj Singh were the other two Malaysian in the meeting.

The experienced and SEA Games 1-2 favorites finished 3rd and 4th with 2.20m and 2.12m, respectively. New Zealand's Hamish Kerr came 1st in 2.24m.

The duo needs to clear 2.33m in order to compete in the IAAF World Championships at Doha in September.

Hup Wei was unable to clear 2.24m but making a 2.20m effort means equalling a season-best from the Ipoh all-comers in Malaysia last month.

Read more...

Former Indonesian sprinter Yudi Purnomo dies at 58

Indonesia's former top sprinter Yudi Purnomo died on Friday (15 February 2019) after a 4-year battle with cancer (lymphoma).

Born in 1961, Purnomo competed in the 1984 Olympics and had won numerous medals in Asian-level competitions.

During the 1984 Olympics at Los Angeles, he advanced into the quarterfinals of the 100m after finishing in second during the second heat of round one in a time of 10.40s. In this race, he was behind the defending champion Allan Wells of Great Britain who recorded 10.32.

Later in the afternoon heat four of the quarterfinals, he finished in 3rd position behind Jamaica's Raymond Stewart (10.30) and Allan Wells (10.33) but was well ahead of Spain's Jose Javier Arques (10.52) to enter the semifinal round comfortably.

In semifinals, he clocked a time of 10.51s (+0.7) to finish in the eighth position of his first heat race and was eliminated; only top four of each semifinal heat would be qualified into the finals.

Men's 100m semifinal 1 at the 1984 Olympic Games at Los Angeles

The race was won by Jamaica's Raymond Stewart (10.26). Ironically, heat 2 race was 'against headwinds' and apparently not quicker as the last qualifier Tony Sharpe of Canada at 4th place had a time of 10.52 (-1.5), which was one hundred of a second slower than Purnomo's. Carl Lewis won the heat 2 race in 10.14 who then took the victory in the finals in 9.99s.

During the 200m, he ended in 5th position during the quarterfinals in a new national record of 20.93s (-0.5) behind the likes of Carl Lewis (20.48), Stefano Tilli and Atlee Mahorn. He came third (21.01) earlier during the heat 9 of round one.

His first well-known international medals for Indonesia came from the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in 1983 at Singapore when he won 3 silver medals, the 100m (10.62) and 200m (21.82) individuals. He then teamed up in the 4x100m to take another silver medal (40.58).

Four months later, he clinched the ATF (Asian Track & Field)'s bronze medal in the 100m (10.60) and went on to win a silver medal in the 200m (21.64).

Photo collection of the late Yudi Purnomo (from his facebook) 

During the 1985 SEA Games at Bangkok, he clinched a gold medal in the 200m by clocking a time of 21.25s, and grabbed another medal as he finished in 3rd place in the blue ribbon event (10.62), behind teammate Christian Nenepath who edged Thailand's Sumet Promna following a neck-to-neck battle to the line for an identical time of 10.54s. After snatching the individual golds, they helped Indonesian quartet to secure another gold medal in the 4x100m.

Previously in the year when the ATF was held in his home ground Jakarta, he won two silver medals after finishing in second at 100m (10.33), behind China's Zheng Chen (10.28) and the 200m (21.19), behind South Korea's Chang Jae-Keun (20.57).

In the 1987 SEA Games in Jakarta, he clinched 2 silver medals from the 200m and 4x100m.

He retained his SEA Games silver medal at 200m in the 1989 edition in Kuala Lumpur after coming in second (21.32) behind teammate and the newly crowned 100m champion (10.40) Mardi Lestari who clocked 21-flat.

He has personal bests of 10.33s in the 100m that he set during the ATF in 1985 and 20.93s at 200m from the 1984 Olympics. His actual name is Purnomo bin Muhmmad Yudhi Wijaya.

Condolences to his family.

by Jad Adrian, ATFS statistician

Read more...

Post Activation Potentiation for Vertical Jump Performance

Many sports require explosive power as a foundational element of movements. As power is highly related to sports performance, it is important to carefully look into factors that can optimize muscular force and power (training performance) in order to maximize training effectiveness.

At present, coaches use post-activation potentiation (PAP) to achieve this intent.

The theory behind PAP sounds like "contractile history of a muscle influences the performance of subsequent muscle contractions" as described by Robbins (2005). In other words, PAP is a phenomenon where a more powerful contraction of muscle can be produced as a result of its previous muscular (i.e. conditioning) activity.

However, muscle performance can also be impaired by a fatiguing conditioning activity - too much "conditioning" and insufficient rest are not good for PAP.  This warns practitioners that PAP protocol requires a sufficient rest period before performing a subsequent explosive movement.

So what is the best way to perform PAP protocol? Of note, Ben Johnson did not do "3 reps bench press @ 190kg" right before the 100m finals of the 1988 Olympics, as claimed so by some people.

But I had personal communication with German scientist Dietmar Schmidtbleicher who told me, high-caliber athletes, Valeri Borzov and German Bobsleigh team used heavy squat as pre-stimulus to improve their sprint performances.

An example of PAP protocol that can be used to maximize jump height and power production during a vertical jump performance is as follow:

PAP protocol (sequence: a, b, c) for optimizing power production

This protocol is based on a recent study (systematic review and meta-analysis) by Dobbs et al. (2018) that have examined the magnitude of the effect of PAP on explosive vertical power.

A new PAP study by Dobbs et al 2018

The main findings of this study are described, briefly.

If one wishes to apply PAP to improve vertical jump performance, fatigue-potentiation relationship (rest duration between conditioning and actual activities) is critical. This study suggests that when implementing the PAP protocol:

a) length of the rest interval is the most important factor contributing to performance
b) should be done using intensities of at least 80% 1RM, and rest duration of 3-7 minutes
c) done only by trained individuals using dynamic strength movements (e.g. normal squatting exercise), and not isometric.

Enhanced performance is possible when implementing PAP protocol using these strategies. Other PAP protocols include conditioning activity by using the power clean, plyometrics, sleds etc. It is important to know that, according to Robin and Thomas (2017), some athletes are "positive responder" (i.e. performance enhanced after a pre-conditioning activity) to PAP protocol, and others being "negative responder" (performance impaired), "non-responder" (neither enhanced or impaired), and "inconsistent responder" (some days positive the others not).

Read more...