Sri Lanka’s own Hiruni Wijayaratne became Sri Lanka’s fastest female athlete on the road, building morale just weeks ahead of the 2019 Sri Lanka Nationals Athletics Meet.

Read More: Sri Lanka’s SAG 2019 fate at stake after controversial vote 

Hiruni Wijayaratne, who currently takes credit for multiple National records in the long distance and marathon form of running, road and track, is a professional athlete residing in the USA. However, she fully represents Sri Lanka in all professional meets and in such an event, Wijayaratne has managed to achieve another milestone in her career.

Although there are no competition or tracked records kept on  Road Running competitions, the new timings recorded by Hiruni will renew her Personal Best timings as well as challenge a track record that has stood for 16 years.

She managed the feat at the Deseret News 10k Road Race in Salt Lake City, USA where she renewed her 10k record from last year, besting a 16-year-old record in the 5k in the process.

The race began at 1500m of altitude; Wijayaratne’s previous record in the 10k was clocked in at 35.09min on the road and 33.57min on the track, in 2018. This is the current standing National record in track for Sri Lanka.

At the Deseret News Road Race, Hiruni completed the 10k run in 33.31min winning the Silver medal. 

Read More: 3 athletes, 3 medals for Sri Lanka on the track 

The 5k National record (Track) for Sri Lanka was established by Asian Athletic Silver medalist, Sujeewa Nilmini, back in 2003.

En-route to her record run in the 10k, Wijayaratne clocked the 5k, 16:02 minutes, becoming Sri Lanka’s fastest on the Road.

“I was very pleased with it. I wanted to run hard before Nationals. It was 30 degrees at the start and very humid. So, I think the conditions are good practice for Colombo. I’ve always wanted to run a good 5k time, happy that I managed it today” confessed a delighted Hiruni on her double record-spree.

Wijayaratne’s next stop will the Nationals meet which will kick off on the 16th August at the Sugathadasa Stadium. Stay logged on to ThePapare.com for more news on the upcoming event!

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