The apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree.
K. Prabudass, 31, inked his name in the history books after clocking 1:07.00s in the men’s half marathon at the Sapporo Challenge Half Marathon, in Hokkaido, Japan, on May 5.
He bettered his own national record of 1:07.29s set in July 2019 at the 41st Gold Coast Marathon in Australia.
The member of the Royal Malaysian Navy had then erased M. Arul Thevar’s 15-year record of 1:07.59s, which had stood since 2004.
It is in Prabudass’ genes, as his father, G. Krishnan, was a SEA Games bronze medallist who holds the honour as the first Malaysian to run 5,000m in under 15 minutes.
“I’m so happy to break the (national) record as this is my first race since 2019,” said Prabudass.
“It felt so good to finally compete again after so long.
”My initial target was to break the record. But then I was admitted to the hospital three weeks before the race. So I only had two weeks to prepare. I decided not to put any pressure and just wanted to finish the race.”
Prabudass, however, had to brave the chilly Sapporo weather.
“The weather during the race was challenging … strong winds … it was cold.”
He said the Malaysia Athletics Federation (MAF) had been informed of his achievement.
“I’ve informed them (MAF). MAF sent me here (Japan) for the competition,” he added.
Twentytwo13 reached out to the MAF president earlier today to confirm Prabudass’ record.
MAF president Datuk S.M. Muthu, however, said “I’m driving, I got no time,” before hanging up.
