The Sri Lankan flag was raised at the Ironman World Championship for the first time in the 2018 edition which was held at the Nelson Mandela bay in Port Elizabeth South Africa on the 02nd of September 2018.
Four Sri Lankan triathletes – Rajan Thananayagam (Men’s 45 to 49), Mithun Liyanage (Men’s 30 to 34), Suranga Nunwan ( Men’s 25 – 29), Ashwin Doranegama (Men’s 18 to 24) made up the team which marked Sri Lanka’s arrival at the World Championships.
A multiple stage competition, a triathlon requires athletes to complete three endurance disciplines, swimming, cycling and running in succession without any rest in between. Ironman is a triathlon series organized by the World Triathlon Cooperation (WTC) which consists of the Ironman 140.6 and Ironman 70.3 which is also known as the half Ironman. The Ironman 70.3 series requires athletes to complete a course of 1.9Km (1.2-mile) of swimming, 90Km cycling (56-mile) topped off with a 21.1Km (13.1-mile) run which is the exact half of the full Ironman. The Ironman series culminates each year with a world championship for which the athletes earn qualification at the precursor events. The qualification times vary from event to event with the factors such as terrain, elevation gained and lost during the course and weather along with the course conditions determine the time the athletes need to achieve for the qualification.
Youngest Sri Lankan to Ironman World Championship
Iron Man 70.3 Colombo, which was held on the 25th of February …
Sri Lanka received their first taste of this grueling contest earlier this year when Ironman 70.3 Colombo was held in February. Suranga Nuwan of Sri Lanka Navy and Ashwin Dorenegama both earned qualification for the World Championship at Ironman 70.3 Colombo in front of home support who got behind them to spur them on.
It is a remarkable achievement that all four Sri Lankan participants who competed in four different age categories at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship managed to finish the competition.
Sri Lanka’s youngest contestant at the World Championship, Ashwin Doranegama who competed in the Men’s 18 to 24 category had a good run and was the first finisher from the Sri Lankan quartet. He clocked a time of 5:01:57 and was placed 1272nd out of 2391 male athletes while he finished 64th out of 85 contestants in the age group.
Mithun Liyanage who competed in the Men’s 30 to 34 age group was placed 1434th out of 2391 male athletes and crossed the finish line as the 254th athlete in the age group out of 325 athletes. Mithun was also the second Sri Lankan to cross the finish line at the World Championship.
Rajan Thananayagam who was the director of Ironman Colombo was the oldest Sri Lankan participant at the World Championship competing in the Men’s 45 to 49 category. He finished the race clocking 5:07:12 and was placed 1475th out of 2391 male athletes while finishing 183rd out of 341 contestants in the age group.
Suranga Nuwan of Sri Lanka Navy was the best Sri Lankan performer at the inaugural Ironman Colombo 70.3 where he was the first Sri Lankan to finish the race. Competing in the Men’s 25- 29 category Nuwan finished the race placed 1650th out of 2391 male athletes while he was placed 191st out of 223 contestants in the age group.
Triathlon is a relatively new sport in Sri Lanka and is largely popular amongst a few pods based mainly in and around the capital. As a matter of fact, Sri Lanka’s best performer at the World Championship, young Ashwin Doranegama was only introduced to the sport a year ago and the World Championship was only his second competitive triathlon. The success of the Sri Lankan quartet at the World Championship is a testament to the potential that the country has in this Olympic sport. Measures need to be taken to ensure triathlon is spread to all corners of the Island. Suranga Nuwan who was the first Sri Lankan to finish at Ironman Colombo is from Sri Lanka Navy who have put together a very active triathlon squad. The involvement of the armed forces is going to be vital for spreading and popularizing triathlon in the country and will be crucial factor especially given the fact that they already possess fully fledged functional Swimming, Cycling and Running which are the core components of the triathlon.
