Two Sri Lanka records were broken on the first day of the 99th National Athletics Championships Stage Two at the Sugathadasa Stadium yesterday.
Roshan Dhammika Ranatunga who was not even born 24 years ago when Mahesh Perera set the men’s 100 metre hurdles record, renewed the record twice to become the first Sri Lankan to go under 14 seconds in this event. Twenty-three-year-old Ranatunga clocked 13.97 in the heats to break Perera’s record of 14.0 in 1997 before improving his own timing to win the finals in a time of 13.89.
The other Sri Lanka record for the day came from middle distance runner Gayanthika Abeyratne who won the 1,500m women’s in a time of 4 minutes 0.12 seconds. The previous record of 4:15.86 was set by Nimali Liyanaarachchi in the 2019 Nationals.
Amasha de Silva underlined her supremacy as a top class sprinter when she won the 200m women’s final clocking 24.08 seconds to beat a star studded field comprising Medhani Jayamanne (24.24) and Nadeesha Ramanayaka (24.61) who failed to produced her best time in the heats of 24.28.
Aruna Darshana clocked a personal best of 20.91 to win the 200m men’s final followed by Mohamed Safan (21.13) and Kalinga Kumarage (21.13).