Decathlon & Heptathlon National records broken

The second day of 96th National Athletic Championship concluded today (4th) at the Sugarthadasa stadium. 13 finals were concluded during the day with two new National records and a meet record established during the day.

Ajith Karunathilaka, the Iron man who was the first Sri Lankan to surpass the 7000point mark in the Decathlon during the 95th National Athletics championship last year claiming the national record renewed his own record with a brilliant show as he managed to better his previous record today amassing a total of 7345 points. Going into the 1500m, the final event of the decathlon Ajith held comfortable lead over the rest of the athletes but required to finish the 1500m below 5:36mins in order to surpass his previous record. Despite finishing 4th due to a troublesome hamstring, Ajith manage to finish the race clocking 4:49.83 renewing his previous record.

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The second national record of the day came in the Heptathlon, the female equal ant of the Decathlon. Similar to Ajith, Lakshika Sugandi who claimed the national record in the event at the last year’s edition, bettered her own record of 4879 points by amassing 4906 points to be crowned the queen of heptathlon. Lakshika who also takes part in the 100m hurdles and the 100m evets was placed 3rd in the 100m while she will be competing in the final of the 100m hurdle final tomorrow.

National record breaker in the opening day, Nilani Ratnayake raced to victory in the women’s 1500m final with a new meet record time clocking 4:17.52, National record holder N M C Dilrukshi was placed second clocking a time of 4:22.69 while P E R Dulakshi won the Bronze medal clocking 4:36.36.

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Aruna Darshana – The new 400m national champion

Men’s 400m was the stand out event that was eagerly followed as out of the 8 finalists 6 athletes running sub 48 secs this season. The race lived up to its expectation with the defending champion Dilip Ruwan making a speedy start to the race and taking the lead in the opening 200m. Kalinga Kumara the pre-race favorite put on the after burners in the final 200m with Aruna Darshana close behind him. Entering the home stretch Dilip lost a lot of pace assumingly due to burning out much of his energy in the opening few meters of the race with Kalinga and Aruna battling for the top spots.

Anajana Peramaumara managed to sneak into the third place with another 18-year-old Pasindu Kodikara in fouth place behind him. Kalinga looked like he will take home the Gold but a last gasp charge in the final ten meters of the race by Aruna made sure that he became the new national champion in the event. Dilip Ruwan despite a good start could not keep up the pace in the final 100m as he finished in the fifth place. All five athletes ran sub 47secs in the finals and will be part of the 4X400m team that will be taking flight to the Asian games and are in with a chance to end up in the podium if they perform well together. Aruna Darshana and Kalinga Kumara have been included for the 400m individual event as well with both athletes displaying great form.  

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Old and the new of Sri Lankan High Jumping

In the Men’s High jump final, veteran Manjula Kumara who has been dominating the event for dthe past decade had to be satisfied with a silver medal after failing to overcome the 2.18m mark and having to settle with a best of 2.15m. Upcoming High jumper from Maristtella College Negombo, Ushan Thivanka Perera won his first National Athletic Championship Gold ahead of the veteran clearing the 2.18m mark in his final attempt but was left disappointed as he could not achieve the qualification standard height of 2.25m laid down by the Athletics Association of Sri Lanka for the Asian Games. B R I U Kumaraof Sri Lanka Army won the Bronze medal clearing 2.05m.

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Anitha and Sachini share Vaulting Gold

National record holder and vaulting queen Anitha Jegathisweran had to share the Gold medal of the event with Sachini Perera of Sri Lanka Army with both vaulters managing to clear the height of 3.40m with similar number of attempts. National record holder Anitha was not in her usual best as she looked to be struggling with her run up while Sachini showcased tremendous improvement from the previous competitions. The Bronze medal was shared between K A K L Perera and S D Ranasinghe with both athletes clearing 3.30m in similar number of attempts.

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