Dhanuka Darshana establishes New Junior National Record in Cali

Junior Hurdler Dhanuka Darshana managed to grab the headlines for Sri Lanka yesterday (3) in Cali, Colombia at the World Athletics U20 Championships as he ran National Junior Record time in the 400m Men’s Hurdles event.

Darshana of Ambagamuwa Centra College competed in Heat number 7 of the first round of 400m Hurdles and secured automatic qualification for the semifinals with an impressive timing of 51.41s to clinch 2nd place in the heat. From all 7 heats, Darshana’s timing is ranked as the 13th fastest of all.

Dharshana’s previous personal best in the event was 51.99 seconds which he recorded at the National Athletics Championship 2022 at the Diyagama Stadium. There, he also became the National Champion (senior) of the 400m Hurdles.

With his new personal best of 51.41s, Darshana has renewed the National Junior Record which was previously marked at 51.96s by Nawadya Sankalpa in 2019.

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The semifinal of the Men’s 400m Hurdles event will be held on 5th August at 3.10 am Sri Lanka time.

Later on on day 03, Tharushi Karunaratne competed in the 400m Women’s semifinals where she ran a timing of 54.86s but wasn’t able to clinch a spot in the finals. She was placed 7th in the semifinal heat 01. Earlier, Karunaratne qualified for the semifinals with a performance of 54.13s in the first round.

Today, two more Lankan athletes are scheduled to compete along with the hurdler Dhanuka Dharshana who will be participating in his semifinal in the 2nd session of day 04. Triple Jumper Pasindu Malshan and Javelin Thrower Rumesh Tharanga will be competing in their qualification round in the first session.

Schedule for Sri Lanka Athletes

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