PETALING JAYA, July 30 — In barely 24 hours Khairul Hafiz Jantan broke the 200m Malaysia Games record twice — and he is capable of doing more.

He erased the Games 200m record in the heats on Thursday after clocking 21.14s — 0.19s faster than the 14-year record held by Nazmizan Muhammad. Yesterday, he won the gold after stopping the clock at 21.03s.

Aqil Yasmin from Selangor was second with 21.31s while Sarawakian Jonathan Nyepa won the bronze with 21.34s.

Tan Sri Dr M. Jegathesan still holds the 200m record of 20.92s set at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico.

The 18-year-old Khairul became a household name overnight after smashing Watson Nyambek’s 18-year 100m record on Wednesday. He managed 10.18s to erase Watson’s 10.30s feat.

But there’s no stopping Khairul as he is now eager to stamp his mark in the region.

His coach Mohd Poad Kassim said his sprinter was hungry for more and he would now gear up for a memorable outing in the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games next year.

"We have been working towards him achieving better results and the Malaysia Games was the perfect platform to do so.

"He was really close to breaking the SEA Games record and I’m sure it will be a spectacular moment when it happens,” said the Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School teacher.

Indonesian Suryo Agung Wibowo remains the fastest man in Southeast Asia with a time of 10.17s set in the 2009 Laos Games.

American Noah Lyles won the 100m in the World Under-20 Championships with 10.17s last month.

"He (Khairul) is working very hard to make it happen. He is peaking. Some people tend to slow down once they have achieved their goals but he wants more and we will ensure he continues to improve.”

The Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) are bullish of not only Khairul’s achievements but believe the other younger crop of athletes are capable of shining.

Stopping short of calling it the golden era of Malaysian athletics, president Datuk Karim Ibrahim said the young athletes were peaking at the right time and were being groomed "for bigger things”.

The other athletes MAF are banking on include sprinters Badrul Hisyam Manap, Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli, high jumper Nauraj Singh, 110m hurdler Mohd Rizzua Haizad Muhammad and triple jumper R. Kirthana. Zaidatul and Nauraj will be in Rio de Janeiro for the Olympics while Rizzua and Kirthana were the gold medal winners at last month’s Asian Junior Athletics Championships.

"We are placing these young athletes in the right competitions based on their performances. Some have achieved their target while others have excelled ... like our sprinters.

"Of course we will see more (records broken) before the SEA Games.”

He added other coaches had been told to gear up their athletes and emulate what Poad had done.

"We will not force them (to use Poad’s methods), it is up to them as they know their athletes best. But more sprinters will shine soon.”

He said MAF would like to see Khairul compete in International Association of Athletics Federations GP races.

"We don’t need foreign coaches. Poad is a classic example that our local coaches are capable of producing champions. We’d rather spend more money on coaches like him so they will be motivated to churn out more winners,” Karim added.

National chief coach Zainal Abas, however, cautioned that the young athletes could "burn out” if too much was expected from them.

"We need to chart their progress properly and not get carried away. Khairul, Badrul and many more have shown their capabilities but they have to continue to better their times.

"They are young and have a bright future. We need to ensure they don’t get injured or worse still burned out. If we get the recipe right, we will be looking at them achieving even greater things,” he added.