Kota Kinabalu: Sabah’s Yatim Zainal Abidin is all set to compete with the world’s best triathletes in the Vinfast Ironman 70.3 World Championship starting today (Sunday) in Lahti, Finland.
The 47-year-old who is taking part in the 45-49 age group said he is mentally and physically prepared for the challenge consisting a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run after three weeks of training.
“I had three weeks of preparations for this meet. It all went smoothly apart from two days’ rest in the first week due to flu.
“My body condition is in very good shape now. However, it is still hard to predict on race day, but for sure the target for me is to complete all three disciplines.
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“I will definitely give my very best to make Sabah and Malaysia proud and I hope all Malaysians will pray for me to do well,” he said on Saturday.
Yatim is the only Sabahan among the four Malaysians taking part in the competition and the others are Abdul Rahman, Tan Aun Yong and Veronica Uhen.
The veteran athlete had earlier indicated that this will be his swan song in the international scene and hopes it will be a better outing than he did at the “The Challenge-Family The Championship” race in Samorin, Slovakia in 2021.
His maiden appearance in the world meet ended on a sour note when he was forced to pull out from the race after encountering difficulties in the freezing water at the start of the swimming discipline.