by Reemus Fernando

In an Olympic year, sprinter Aruna Dharshana’s sub 45 seconds in the 400 metres and Tharushi Karunaratne’s 600 metres Asian record rank were among the country’s best moments of track and field sports in the passing year.

There were unique moments that captured the imagination of the track and field fraternity but among them the aforesaid performances by the highest ranked male and female athletes of Sri Lanka standout.

Sprinter Aruna Dharshana and Tharushi Karunaratne are the country’s highest ranked male and female athletes respectively according to Word Athletics year end rankings.

The men’s 400 metres had been the country’s top medal winning discipline at international stage but Sri Lanka had been waiting for years to witness a sub 45 seconds feat in the 400 metres. Since the retirement of Sugath Thilakaratne no Sri Lankan had come closer to breaking his national record of 44.61 seconds established quarter century ago. The closest to Thilakaratne’s mark was Kalinga Kumarage’s 45.07 seconds feat at Diyagama in September last year.

Dharshana’s coach Asanka Rajakaruna was hopeful that his charge would produce a sub 45 seconds performance prior to the Olympics. He was looking forward to earn direct qualifying standards but the opportunity came at the Paris Olympics after earning the spot through world rankinga. Dharshana clocked 44.99 seconds in the heats to earn a historic semi-final berth at the Olympics. He bettered the performance with a 44.75 feat only to be disappointed when he was disqualified for a lane infringement in the semi-final.

The 25-year old earned the admiration of fans and fellow athletes alike.

“Your achievement has ignited a spark in the young generation. Inspire them to dream big and strive for greatness,” said sprinter Yupun Abeykoon in a post.

Former Ratnayake Central Walala athlete Tharushi Karunaratne had a disappointing Olympics but her achievement on her way to achieving qualifying standards for the quadrennial event will remain arguably as one of the best performances by a Sri Lanka athlete.

By the start of the Olympic year the best 600 metres performance by a female athlete in Asia belonged to Japan’s Ayano Shiomi. Her 1:28.06 feat was the Asian record of the seldom-run discipline. After a couple of failures in her Olympic preparation Tharushi created history when she erased the Asian Continental record to win the second place of the women’s 600 metres at the Bilbao Reunion International, a World Athletics bronze label event in Spain.

The record-breaking 1:24.84 seconds performance helped the athlete trained by Susantha Fernando to leapfrog to the 47th position in the ‘Road to Paris 24’ rankings after being in the 63rd position. Currently, Karunaratne is the second ranked Asian athlete in the 800 metres behind Bahrain’s Nelly Jepkosgei. The Kenyan born athlete has a best of 1:24.94 in the 600.

Olympian Dilhani Lekamge had a memorable outing in Korea prior to the Paris event. She cleared a distance of 57.95 metres to win a bronze in the women’s javelin throw at the Asian Throwing Championship in Mokpo.

At the same event, Rumesh Tharanga hurled the javelin to a record-breaking distance of 85.45 metres. That feat shattered not only the Sri Lanka national record but also the championship record as he won the Asian gold. He missed the Olympic qualifying mark by just five centimeters but earned the admiration of many as his effort was ranked among the top ten in the world.

That performance is the third best in Asia this year. It is ranked only behind legendary Olympic medallists Arshad Nadeem’s 92.97m and Neeraj Chopra’s 89.49 metres.

Sri Lanka also enjoyed success at the Asian Relay Championships this year. The most satisfying moment at the event held in Hongkong was arguably the gold medal victory by Aruna Dharshana, Pasindu Kodikara, Dinuka Deshan and Kalinga Kumarage in the men’s 4×400 metres where they beat India.

Sri Lanka may not have won medals at global stage but there is a ray of hope as the country’s hardworking athletes and their coaches have continued to produce inspiring performances in 2024.