NAYPYIDAW — The fastest man in South-east Asia was crowned at the Wunna Theikdi Stadium yesterday, as Jirapong Meenapra of Thailand blitzed past his rivals to claim the 100m gold in 10.48sec.

The 20-year-old had already claimed the coveted gold in the 4x100m relay with team-mates Ruttanapon Sowan, Aphisit Promkaew, and Suppachai Chimdee on Monday, and was aiming for another in the blue riband event.

Despite getting off to a slow start, the University of Bangkok student recovered quickly to claim gold ahead of Indonesia’s Iswandi and Singapore’s Muhammad Amirudin Jamal, who finished second and third in 10.51 and 10.55 respectively.

But Jirapong — who clocked a new personal best time of 10.37 in the 100m at this year’s Malaysian Open — is not done with his medal quest yet. He is gunning for a treble at the Myanmar SEA Games in the 200m today in a bid to become the most bemedalled athlete at the athletics competition.

“I didn’t do so well today as my start was not good,” he said.

“The final was okay and the Indonesian was very close to me, and I’m happy that I won the 100m. I think I can win the gold medal in the 200m.”

Newly-crowned women’s 100m champion Thi Huong Vu — who won the 100m and 200m double at the 2007, 2009 and 2011 SEA Games — will also be gunning for her second gold medal in the 200m today.