Akalanka Peiris, a 24-year-old swimmer from Sri Lanka, garnered attention at the World Aquatic Championship in Doha yesterday by breaking the 26-second barrier in the men’s 50m Backstroke event.
The achievement not only secured him a Sri Lanka record but also placed him among the top 22 swimmers globally in this challenging discipline.
Peiris, a former St. Peter’s College swimmer, clocked an impressive 25.86, marking the fastest time ever recorded by a Sri Lankan swimmer in the 50m Backstroke. This achievement erased his previous record of 26.12 set in 2022 in Sri Lanka.
Notably, Peiris’ performance in Doha marked the fastest time by a South Asian swimmer in the men’s 50m Backstroke event at the World Championship 2024. It also positioned him within the top three among Asian countries.
Despite missing the semi-final cut by a mere 68 microseconds, Peiris expressed his joy at achieving such a milestone for Sri Lanka. He was edged out by Germany’s Evangelos Kakrygiannis, who clocked a stunning 25.18 seconds to qualify.
Peiris, who had been training at the Cheltenham Aquatic Club in Victoria, Australia, under the coaching of Kelly Stubbins for the past four months, also excelled in the men’s 100m Backstroke. The previous day, he clocked 57.52, his seasonal best timing, ranking as the best among South Asian swimmers in the competition and finishing 40th among 53 world swimmers.
“I am hugely happy; my biggest happiness is to be able to beat myself. I did my best to achieve this. I am really happy to achieve this kind of milestone for Sri Lanka because no one has ever broken the 26-second barrier in history,” said an elated Akalanka Peiris.
Peiris, eyeing this year’s Paris Summer Olympics, expressed his hope to further improve Sri Lanka’s swimming standards by reducing his time to 24 seconds and aiming for a spot among the top 10 in the world. “I spent nearly seven years working towards bringing it down from 26 to 25 seconds to this standard,” he added.
The determined swimmer has his sights set on the Paris Summer Olympics and plans to compete in the Australia Nationals in April in Gold Coast and the Australian Olympic Selection Trial in June in Sydney, aiming to secure a ‘B’ cut for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Peiris expressed gratitude to Conrad Francis, a former two-time Olympic swimmer from Sri Lanka, who mentored him during the early period of his Australian migration last year before joining Kelley Stubbins after the Asian Games in October.
