Paris 2024: Muhammad Shah Firdaus reaches the quarter-finals of the keirin

PARIS (August 11): National track cyclist Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom qualified for the quarter-finals of the men’s keirin at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Saturday.

The 28-year-old rider secured his spot after winning the third round of repechage at the Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, with a time of 10.154 seconds (s).

Muhammad Shah Firdaus, who won two bronze medals at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year, finished ahead of Canada’s Nick Wammes (+0.014s), China’s Liu Qi (+0.121s) and Surinamese’s Jair Tjon En Fa (+0.144s). Only two riders qualified for the quarter-finals, which will take place tomorrow.

Frenchman Rayan Helal had originally finished second but was relegated for an irregular move to prevent an opponent from passing.

Muhammad Shah Firdaus had to take part in the repechage after being relegated on his first lap for riding on the blue stripe and receiving a warning for going down the inside of the track and forcing another competitor off the track.

In the first quarter-finals on Sunday, he will face tough competition from Jack Carlin of Great Britain, Matthew Glaetzer of Australia and Kaiya Ota of Japan.

Commenting on the relegation incident, national coach John Beasley said Muhammad Shah Firdaus needs to become more mature in making decisions on the track.

“Shah has the potential to be anything he wants to be, but he needs to mature a little more. He knows he can’t go below that, right? We’ve spent years and years together, you can’t do that.

“He’s a fantastic athlete, but he won’t be great until he learns to make his own decisions at the right time. You can’t rely on other people,” he said.

Earlier, Malaysia’s main medal hopeful Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang was disqualified in the first heat for overtaking the derny (an electric motorcycle that acts as a pacemaker) before it went off the track.

The quarter-final round is scheduled for 11:29am on Sunday (5:29pm in Malaysia), followed by the semi-finals an hour later and the final at 1:32pm (7:32pm in Malaysia). – Bernama