Paris 2024: 'The Pocket Rocketman' Poised For Highly Anticipated Keirin Race

From Vikneswaran Raman

PARIS, Aug 9 (Bernama) -- National track cycling ace Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang is poised for a highly anticipated men’s keirin event at the 2024 Paris Olympics, scheduled for this weekend.

Having won bronze in Rio 2016 - the country’s first Olympic medal in cycling - and silver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the 36-year-old rider is ready for the thrilling race to set the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines National Velodrome tracks ablaze. 

The ultimate goal is to bag Malaysia’s first Olympic gold medal, but Mohd Azizulhasni, known as ‘The Pocket Rocketman’ wants to clear one hurdle at a time to reach the final.

“My plan is to win the gold medal, not go for silver or bronze, but we will see how it goes. Based on my performance in the sprint event, (coach) John Beasley said I have good leg (strength) and good speed, but keirin is a different ballgame.

“For the sprint, technically, everyone is using big gear, and you have to start from ground speed (standstill), which requires a lot of energy. In keirin, we gain a little momentum, and it’s more about speed and tactics, which can favour me as well,” he told Bernama.

On Aug 7, both the 2017 keirin world champion Mohd Azizulhasni and Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom ended their challenge in the sprint event early after being eliminated in the 1/8 and 1/32 rounds, respectively, to get extra rest for their pet event.

On the course, ‘The Pocket Rocketman,’ renewed his national record after clocking 9.402 seconds to finish 10th in the qualifying round, bettering his previous record of 9.523 seconds set at the Asian Track Cycling Championships (ACC) in Nilai last year.

Recalling the Tokyo 2020 final incident, where he narrowly missed the gold, Mohd Azizulhasni is determined to remain cautious in Paris this time around.

“Everyone knows I have speed and good tactical skills. We just hope that there’s nothing crazy like in Tokyo, where we got boxed in. The plan is to stay safe from that kind of situation and just try to win each race.

“I also hope that Shah Firdaus can be in the final with me so that our chances of winning gold will be higher,” he said.

During the Tokyo Olympics keirin final three years ago (delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Mohd Azizulhasni was stuck in a bunch and unable to chase Jason Kenny’s solo breakaway for gold, when Australian rider Matthew Glaetzer, who was leading the bunch, didn’t put in enough effort to chase the British rider. Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen settled for bronze.

This time around, Mohd Azizulhasni and Muhammad Shah Firdaus are expected to face challenges from, among others, 13-time World Championship gold medallist Lavreysen and Jeffry Hoogland of the Netherlands, Great Britain’s Jack Carlin, Australia’s Matthew Glaetzer, Japan’s Yuta Obara and double Asian Games gold medalist Kaiya Ota.

In a keirin race, which is tactically demanding, riders complete three laps behind derny (a motorcycle-mounted pacer) to progressively reach a specific speed before the pacer leaves the track with three laps to go, the point where riders sprint to the finish. 

At the Paris 2024, 30 riders will start the challenge in the first round, where only the top two finishers in each heat will advance to the quarter-finals, followed by the semi-finals and six-man final.

-- BERNAMA