KUCHING - Sarawak sprinter, Jonathan Nyepa who is currently undergoing a nine-month training stint in the USA has become the first Sarawakian to run the 200m in under 21seconds.

The 23-year-old was timed at 20.92sec in a meet in Athens, Georgia on April 26 this year and the current training stint in the US (from February to October) came about partly because of grumbling in certain quarters that the Sarawak sprinter had not been given due recognition.

As if to prove the point Jonathan beat all local rivals in the first major 100m race of the 2019 season with a win in 10.49sec in the Perak All Comers Meet 2019 just days before he left overseas for training.

After less than a month in the US he has also beaten the SEA Games 100m qualifying time of 10.43. So far he is the only Malaysian sprinter to have qualified for both the 100 and 200m in the 2019 SEA Games to be held in the Philippines in December.