KUCHING: The stagnant form of Sarawak sprinter Jonathan Nyepa at the SEA Games is perplexing to Canadian coach Daniel St Hilaire.
Jonathan underwent nine months of training in Atlanta, United States, but he failed to improve when he clocked a poor 10.60s in the 100m to finish seventh and returned as badly in the 200m when he also ended in seventh place.
The sprinter, who hails from Sungai Asap, had clocked a personal best of 10.28s in a Korean Open in 2017 and was the first among the Malaysian athletes to qualify for the SEA Games.
His timing in the 100m in Sukma 2016 was a credible 10.36s which was much better than his current form.
This raises questions over his preparation although he had been exposed to high level competitions and supervision in the US.
St Hilaire, who conducted a coaching course here, last year, is willing to help if he could find the sprinter’s weakness.
He is also trying to get a new technology which he declined to reveal in details but is willing to help not only Jonathan but also current Malaysian 100m record holder Khairul Hafiz Jantan who is also in a similar predicament.
“I will check on the latest technology to help. Give me a few weeks and I will let you know if it works. But first I must take a look at his run,” said St Hilaire.
The Canada-based coach, who brought former ‘Flying Dayak’ Watson Nyambek to a great height, added that several factors could have affected Daniel’s form, including a change of environment.
St Hilaire was Watson’s personal coach in the 1990s when his protege held the national record of 10.30s for several years and even did a 10.20s blistering run in an Asian Games preliminary round which was not ratified as a national record due to wind condition.
On Daniel’s training part, it might not have targeted the right areas including strength and aspects of acceleration during his run. It could also be due to improper regeneration of the athlete or the load is not enough to challenge the system in his run.
