The Malaysian quartet comprising Azreen Nabila Alias, Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli, Afrina Batrisya Rizal and Aishah Rofina Aling clocked 44.58s to erase the old mark of 45.18s set by Zaidatul, Siti Fatimah Mohamad, S Komalam and Nurul Faizah Asma Mazlan at the 2017 Asian Track and Field (ATF) Championships in India.

Perennial powerhouse Thailand swept the gold medal with a time of 44.24s while Vietnam took the silver with a time of 44.51s.

Zaidatul, who was elated at breaking the record, said their focus was merely on breaking the national mark rather than winning a medal.

“We have long waited to clock below 45 seconds. I was pleasantly surprised when we were able to hit a time of 44.58s because the closest we came to the old record was at the Singapore Open last month where we clocked 45.7s.

“Within a month we were able to dip below 45 seconds and set the record, it’s good for us, thank you coach Poad (Kassim), who gave us a lot of guidance and encouragement,” she told reporters.

Meanwhile, the men’s 4x100m quartet comprising Zulfiqar Ismail, Jonathan Nyepa, Haiqal Hanafi and Khairul Hafiz Jantan had to be satisfied with a bronze medal after sharing the same time with Singapore.

Both countries clocked 39.36s.

The bronze medal was short of the silver that they won at the 2021 Vietnam Games.

Indonesia produced a spectacular performance to claim the gold with a time of 39.11s, beating pre-race favourites Thailand, who had to settle for the silver with a time of 39.13s.