The national track and field athletes produced their best performance of the year at the Borneo Games.
Brunei put on their best show of the year during September's 5th Borneo Games in Labuan where they picked up one gold, three silver and seven bronze medals in athletics.
Md Fakhri Ismail was the Sultanate's sole gold medalist after crossing the line in 22.23s in the men's 200m.
His time was decent considering it was only a second off the gold medal winning time that Thailand's Jirapong Meenapra (21.29s) clocked when he won the same event at the 27th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Myanmar earlier this month.
It was Md Fakhri's first time representing the country and the athlete whose main events are the 100m and 200m made sure it was a debut to remember - especially after finishing third in the men's 4x400m relay.
"I didn't really expect it because there are other strong contenders from Sabah and Sarawak," he said after returning from Labuan.
The silver medals at the Borneo Games came from Maziah Mahusin in the women's 200m and Md Adenin Bolhan in the men's discus and shot putt.
The remaining bronze medals poured in from Fatin Farah Nabila Ismail in the women's 100m, Leong She Yee in the women's 800m, Md Khairul Anwar in the men's 5000m, Abd Rahim Abdullah in the men's 200m, women's 4x400, men's 4x400 and men's 4x100.
November's Brunei Darussalam Track and Field Open Championship, which saw districts go up against one another as well invited regional teams such as the Malaysian national team, Sabah and Limbang saw Maziah finish second in the women's 400m.
Maziah, who was in preparation for the SEA Games, clocked 1:01.4 behind Malaysia's Nurul Faizah Asma Mazlan - who finished with a time of 55.70.
Abdul Haqim Hj Yahya only managed to record a height of 1.90m in the high jump, where he was the only contender.
Ak Hafiy Tajuddin Pg Rositi, who competed at the London 2012 Olympics with Maziah, didn't compete in the men's 400m after being advised by the national team's physiotherapist not to run or take part in any explosive activity leading up to the SEA Games.
Ak Hafiy, Haqim and all took part at the SEA Games but all three failed to put on a show after being outclassed by their opponents.
Haqim managed to clear 2.00m on his third attempt before failing to jump 2.05 to break the national record of 2.04 set in 1992 by Demingo Kapal.
Haqim's personal best to date is 2.03m that he set at the 2011 Sabah Open.
Maziah was the last to cross the line clocking a time 1:02.64 in the women's 400m, falling short of the 59.28 national record she set during the London Olympics.
Ak Hafiy, who was aiming to better his personal best of 48.67s in the men's 400m set at the London Olympics, also came in last with a time of 49.94s.
The national record still remains in the hands of Mohamed Arman Hj Sanip who clocked a time of 48.53s in 1999.
It wasn't the first major meet of the year that Hafiy failed to progress from the heats.
Hafiy was last to cross the line during the World Championships in Moscow in August when he timed in at 49.98s.
A month later in September's 3rd Islamic Solidarity Games in Palembang, Indonesia, he clocked 49.94s to finish fifth.
There were positives to be found in 2013 though - the most notable the hiring of a specialised jumping coach.
Joseph Kameni came in as national jumping coach to fill in a slot that has been vacant since 2007.
The Cameroonian arrived in the Sultanate in the first week of July and having started out in 1992, the has over 20 years of coaching experience.
He has coached world class athletes such as Francoise Mbango Etone and Hugo Mamba-Schlick.
Both Cameroonians, Etone won triple jump gold at both the 2004 and 2008 Olympics while Mamba-Schlick won silver in the same event at the 2010 Commonwealth Games - making Kameni's hiring proof that the country is serious in producing quality athletes in the field.
