KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Azizulhasni Awang has experienced a slight dip in the latest UCI men’s elite sprint rankings, despite ending the Nilai leg of the UCI Track World Cup with a gold and a silver medal to underline his enduring world-class pedigree.
The Malaysian sprint star, who was ranked 18th last week, has dropped three places to 21st in the updated standings with 2,700 points.
The rankings factor in combined performances from both the keirin and individual sprint disciplines across the World Cup circuit.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Nicholas Paul leads the standings with 5,445 points, followed by reigning world champion Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands (5,260) and Australia’s Leigh Hoffman (4,970) in third.
National track cycling technical director John Beasley said the shift in rankings is largely due to the structure of the UCI system in a non-Olympic year rather than any decline in performance.
“In a non-Olympic year, only the single best result per event — sprint and keirin — across World Cup legs is counted, which compresses the rankings significantly,” said Beasley when contacted.
“It rewards peak performance rather than consistency.
“So even though Azizulhasni won two keirin golds, the system records it as one maximum score per event. The same applies in the sprint, where two bronze medals reflect strong consistency at world level but do not accumulate additional ranking weight.”
Beasley added that Azizulhasni’s absence from the World Championships also had a significant impact on his ranking position.
“Missing the World Championships is a major factor. It carries the largest single points allocation outside the World Cup series, and without it, the ranking does not fully reflect his competitive level,” he said.
“What this really shows is that the current non-Olympic year ranking model is not a pure performance indicator. It simplifies results into a points filter that can distort the standings, particularly for riders competing across multiple events or peaking at different rounds.”
Despite the ranking setback, Azizulhasni enjoyed a strong World Cup campaign, securing two keirin gold medals and two individual sprint bronze medals.
He emerged as the overall keirin champion and finished fifth overall in the sprint classification.
Shah Firdaus Sahrom, meanwhile, continued his comeback from knee surgery by climbing 45 places to 155th with 589 points after reaching the second round of the individual sprint in Nilai.
In the women’s elite standings, Izzah Izzati Asri remains 13th with 3,182 points after reaching the keirin semi-finals and sprint quarter-finals, while Nur Alyssa Farid moved up one place to 17th with 2,484 points.
Azizulhasni returned to competition late last year following an extended break after the 2024 Paris Olympics, which also saw him miss the World Championships.
The veteran sprinter has indicated that he intends to retire after the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in October, although the Malaysian National Cycling Federation is hopeful he may extend his career through to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. - April 29, 2026
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