After a 10-year wait, the men’s 4×100-metre (m) record was finally broken when the Johor quartet stunned spectators by clinching the gold medal at the Selangor 2026 Malaysia Games (SUKMA) on 17th August 2026.
Johor, which had not previously held the record, clocked 39.46 seconds (s) to claim the gold medal, breaking the previous record of 39.89s set by the Melaka quartet at SUKMA 2016 in Sarawak.
The Johor quartet consisting Danish Iftikhar, Mohamad Haziq Ilmani Osman, Muhamad Airiel Iskandar Rusli and Adam Harith Hairulaydel was led by Danish as the last runner. The four fantastic members managed to set a new tournament record at the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Stadium after beating the quartets from Sabah and Selangor.
Danish acknowledged that the accomplishment exceeded their expectations because, considering the intense competition this time, the first goal was merely to guaranty Johor’s place on the podium.
“We only aimed to be on the podium. The rest was a blessing from God. We believed in each other as a team and we managed to create a new championship record and win the gold medal for Johor.”
“In the 4x100m event, anything can happen, so we just gave our best and finally managed to win,” Kosmo reports him saying.
Danish believes that the achievement proves that the standard of the country’s sprint events is increasing with the emergence of a group of young runners who are capable of challenging previous records.
“The generation of sprinters is increasing. We managed to prove to Malaysia that we are capable of taking sprint events to a higher level,” he said.
For Airiel, the 4x100m gold came as atonement for his disappointment after he only finished fourth in the individual event the day before, while his teammate, Danish, emerged as the champion.
He said the support of his teammates was one of the main factors that helped him recover from the disappointment before appearing with greater confidence in the relay event.
“The feeling of disappointment was there, but my friends calmed me down a lot and gave me encouragement so that I was able to create a new record with them.
“Even though I was disappointed, they said it was okay and I tried to do better. Thankfully, I proved to them that I can,” he said.
In a separate sprint event on 19th August 2026, Danish broke a record time of 20.85 seconds (s), in 200m event, thus renewing the games record which previously belonged to Selangor runner, Muhammad Aqil Yasmin with a record of 21.01s in the 2018 edition, completing his individual achievement to get hattrick of gold, in 100m sprint, 4x100m and 200m sprint.
Another record was also broken in 4x100m mixed relay event by the Johor quartet of Wills Harnessy, Rosnani, Muhammad Aiman Najmi and Nor Malisya performed.
They recorded a time of 3:31.45 seconds to win Johor’s 17th gold medal.
Johor collected more golds in track and field with addition from 1500m Men’s sprint by Poven Kumar A/L Muthu within 3:58.77s.
Nor Malisya Mohd Ishak won gold in women’s 400m with 55.93 seconds under her belt.
