Their parents were never reluctant to let them compete against each other because they believed it would push them to run even faster.

The petite sisters from Kedah were often neck and neck from gun to tape in the 100m and 200m, and the only thing better than one of them winning was both of them sharing the podium.

To the untrained eye, they were identical. “People would get confused,” said Zaidatul Husniah, who was born 15 minutes after her sister. “So they called me ‘adik’ and Husna ‘along’.”

What started with running competitively as schoolgirls, with Zaidatul Husna having the edge in the early days, went to national level and beyond, making them the first twins to represent Malaysia in athletics.

Zaidatul Husna, whom some thought would be a better 400m runner, quit running a few years ago while her sister persevered as a dominant female sprinter.

On Saturday, the 31-year-old “adik” shattered G Shanti’s 31-year-old women’s 100m national record at the Perlis Open, clocking 11.49 seconds to shave one-tenth of a second off the old mark.

Zaidatul Husniah was born on August 20, 1993, about three months after 26-year-old Shanti did 11.50s in a pre-SEA Games meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

It was the second of Shanti’s long-standing records to be broken in little over a year. In August last year, US-based Shereen Samson Vallabouy erased the 25-year-old 200m record of 23.37s by Shanti, then 31.

Another No 30 fact: In April 2023, Shereen set a new national record with a time of 51.8s in the women’s 400m to break the previous mark of 52.56s set 30 years ago by Rabia Salam.

Until Zaidatul Husniah’s record-breaking run, Shereen had been Malaysia’s fastest 100m runner with a time of 11.61s.

Shanti said yesterday her record had stood for too long and that Zaidatul Husniah’s achievement should serve as an inspiration to budding athletes to dream big.

At the Perlis Open, Zaidatul Husniah, standing at 157cm and weighing 42kg, was emphatic as she burst from the blocks, leaving Nur Afrina Batrisyia a distant second (11.91s) while Azreen Nabila Alias was third in 12.00s.

Her feat was witnessed by her sister, their father, Zulkifli Hassan, a retired army man, and mother, Zalimah Ibrahim.

Zaidatul Husniah said she called her school teacher husband, Mohamed Firdaus Mazalan, in Kuala Lumpur after the race to say she felt great to break the 100m record at the age of 31.

She said she wanted her performance to be all the words she needed to speak herself and believes her explosive run on Saturday will push her to run faster.

Consistency and growth

In many ways, it’s strange to say that 2024 is a breakout year for Zaidatul Husniah.

This is, after all, the sprinter who ran 11.45s in a competition in South Africa in 2017, but the run was wind assisted, and thus not recognised.

Her victory on Saturday might have confounded expectations but few know that she had consistently been in the 11.5s bracket over the last five years.

Malaysia Athletics Federation (MAF) technical director, Robert Ballard, said the real secret to her success has been consistency and development and was “incredibly close to breaking the national record every time.”

“She has always been super consistent and was able to focus fully on training and competitions after completing, like her sister, a degree in physical education.

“Yesterday (on Saturday) things lined up nicely for her – good conditions and a good track setting off a mentally fit athlete to glory.”

Ballard said Zaidatul Husniah, who had shown promise from the age of 21 that she could dip below 11.5s, and competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics on a wild card, “must be the most consistent Malaysian female sprinter of all time”.

He believes her 11.49 is an indication that she can go close to breaking Shereen’s 200m national record of 23.33. Zaidatul Husniah has a personal best of 23.56 in the event.

Ballard said even when Zaidatul Husniah struggled to hold onto any rhythm, she showed just how much the sport means to her, defiantly defending her own love for athletics and ability to perform.

Sprinting into the 30s

Ballard said even at her current age, Zaidatul Husniah is, “an athlete in the ascendancy and a true example of sprinters in their 30s who keep progressing.”

Ballard, whose first stint as MAF technical director was in 2014, should know about sprinting into the 30s.

He represented Australia in the 200m at the Olympics at the age of 24, and eight years later, he recorded a personal best of 21.09s.

Giving an insight into athletes excelling in their 30s, Ballard referred to his analysis of athletics at the Paris Olympics in a report to the MAF.

He said the average age of men and women who made the finals in track and field events and marathon was 26.6 years of age.

“A lot of athletes were older than 26 as the maturity in athletics is in the mid-20s to early 30s.

“In athletics, we are only beginning at 21 and one can even peak at 35 in sprinting. It’s a matter of whether you are prepared to continue that long.

“While you need the financial support and mental capacity to continue, there’s nothing stopping the body from going on.”

Ballard said in Malaysia the sporting culture was different from other countries and that there was no support structure for athletes to continue if they weren’t in the national programme.

“The longevity is shortened by the absence of a safety net in terms of employment and financial security,” he added.

He said one way around the issue was for greater involvement of corporate bodies in athletics, and that the revival of the inter-bank track and field meetings would be a big boost.

Regional glory next?

Ballard said Zaidatul Husniah and her teammates were being prepared for the SEA Games and targeted to be on the podium.

“We build the machine and they are the drivers, and nobody is counting Zaidatul out anymore,” he said.