100th National Athletics Championships

by Reemus Fernando

Hurdlers Dhanuka Darshana and Amesha Hettiarachchi and runner Tharushi Karunaratne were the top performers among school athletes who took part in the centenary National Athletics Championships. A number of events of the historic championship had to be postponed to April 23rd due to inclement weather which prevailed over the weekend. In the completed events, the trio from the Central Province stood out.

In the 400 metres hurdles heats Dhanuka Darshana clocked sub 52 seconds, a truly outstanding feat considering country’s standards in the junior 400 metres hurdles. The athlete trained by Anura Bandara, the veteran coach of the Asian Games medallist Sugath Thilakaratne, went on to win the national title beating senior counterparts from Sri Lanka Army. In the final his performance was 52.17 seconds. He was the only athlete to finish under 53 seconds, while Army’s A.L.A.I. Ratnasena was placed second in a time of 53.01 seconds.

With his 51.99 seconds feat in the heats Darshana came almost close to beating the National Junior record. It was just 0.03 seconds shy of the 2019 mark of Navodya Sankalpa. Darshana who has reached qualifying standards for the World Junior Championships is among the top four junior athletes in his discipline in Asia this year.

Karunaratne, another athlete to have qualified for the World Junior event shattered Dilshi Kumarsinghe’s National Junior Record in the women’s 800 metres when she clocked 2:04.40 seconds to finish third behind Gayanthika Abeyratne and Olympian Nimali Liyanarachchi. She also qualified from the 400 metres heats as the second fastest athlete. The athlete trained by Susantha Fernando returned a time of 54.43 seconds to win her heat. She is expected to produce a faster feat when the finals are held on April 23.

Apart from Nadeesha Ramanayake who won her heat, all others who clocked faster performances in the women’s 400 metres heats were school athletes. Lakshima Mendis who won the third heat (55.74 seconds) and Jayeshi Uththara (54.96 secs) who finished second behind Ramanayake outdid their senior counterparts in the 400 metres heats.

Amesha Hettiarachchi created a new National Junior record when she clocked 60.23 seconds to win the silver medal in the women’s 400 metres hurdles behind E.K. Madushani. Hettiarachchi who has also qualified for the World Junior event is trained by Prasanna Vithana.

The men’s long jump did not witness the expected performances as seniors failed to reach qualifying standards for the Asian Games. Hirusha Hashen competing against seniors managed to produce a performance of 7.44 metres to finish just outside medals. Though it was 23 centimetres behind his Asian leading feat (Junior category) the athlete was able to outdo a number of seniors.