Crucial three weeks for Olympic aspirants

by Reemus Fernando

With just three weeks remaining for the qualification period for the Paris Olympics to close country’s top athletes will be eager to improve their rankings fast to secure elusive Olympic berths. Here is a look at the current positions of Sri Lanka’s top athletes in the fray for an Olympic berth.

Thrower Dilhani Lekamge is the only Sri Lankan track and field athlete remaining within the required rankings to secure a ticket to the quadrennial games.

The athlete trained by reputed throwing coach Pradeep Nishantha is in 30th position in the ‘Road to Paris 2024’ rankings and she needs to improve or remain within the top 32 positions by June 30th to become the second female thrower from Sri Lanka to secure an Olympic berth. Her impressive performances last year have stood in good stead for the Asian Games medallist to secure a position within the top 32 in the ‘Road to Paris 24’ rankings.

She has three more competitions, the Asian Throwing Championship in South Korea (June 14, 15 & 16), the 102nd National Athletics Championship (25, 26 & 27) and the National Open Stage II competition (June 30) to amass points required to realize her dream.

Of the others, the closest to securing Olympic berths are 400 metres specialists Kalinga Kumarage and Aruna Dharshana. The duo are the second and third fastest runners in Asia this season. Kumarage and Dharshana are in the 50th and 51st positions respectively in the ‘Road to Paris 24’ rankings. They need to enter the top 48 before June 30 or clock 45.00 seconds before the deadline.

Italy based sprinter Yupun Abeykoon has climbed up the ranking following last week’s performance in Stockholm where he clocked 10.22 seconds to win the ‘F’ category event. He is currently ranked 75th and needs to reach top 56 or clock 10.00 seconds to book his second consecutive Olympics berth.

Following her triumph at last week’s Taiwan Open Athletics Championship, her first successful performance this year, Tharushi Karunaratne has entered the ‘Road to Paris 24’ rankings at the 61st position. She has three more competitions including a ‘C’ grade competition in Europe to reach top 48 in the Olympic rankings. She did better than Nadeesha Ramanayake in the 400 metres at the meet in Chinese Taipei and the latter needs to improve fast to better her current position (59) in the rankings.

Veteran runner Gayanthika Abeyratne is in the 71st position in both the 800 and 1,500 metres in the rankings. Olympic participation will be the final hurrah for this exemplary athlete who has remained an unsung hero throughout her journey in athletics.