PETALING JAYA: 400m runners Shereen Samson Vallabouy and Umar Osman delivered gold and silver medals respectively to give Malaysia a glittering start at the New Taipei City Athletics Open in Taiwan on Saturday (June 6).
Shereen topped the women’s 400m final with a winning time of 52.73s, ahead of Sri Lanka’s Shenari Ambepitiya Gamage (53.16) and Australia’s Sophia Gregorovic (53.86).
The Malaysian had bettered her season’s best time earlier in the day, clocking 53.85s in the semi-finals, before going even faster in the final.
It was also Shereen’s second gold medal of the year, following her victory at the Singapore Open in April.
In the men’s 400m, Umar had whet his appetite for the final when he shattered his own national record in the semi-finals. He posted 45.73s to eclipse his earlier mark of 46.09s, which he had set at the 2023 FISU World University Games in China.
Umar, however, had to settle for silver in the final when he finished in 46.42s behind Australia’s Brenton Kerr, who took gold in 46.22.
The bronze went to Taiwan’s Wan Chiao Hung (46.43).
Completing a memorable day for Malaysia was Mohd Armin Zahryl Abdul Latif, who took bronze in the men’s 110m hurdles final, clocking 13.87s.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Yuan Mai won gold with a time of 13.57s, while India’s Tejas Ashok Shirse claimed silver in 13.58s.