Gayanthika establishes national record and fastest performance in Asia this year
Sprinter Yupun Abeykoon produced a superb 10.06 seconds performance to qualify for the semi-finals as the fastest from all ten heats in the men’s 100 metres on day five of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games yesterday.
Competing in heat number six to a tailwind gauged at +1.1, Abeykoon beat Trinidad and Tobago’s Kion Benjamin to the second place to create history for Sri Lanka.
He became the first Sri Lankan sprinter in the shortest track distance to have produced such a feat in the heats in the history of Commonwealth Games. His 10.06 is also the fastest qualifying time in round one in the history of the games beating 10.10 seconds (wind 0.2) clocked by Canadian Glenroy Gilbert in 1994.
Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala, the fastest sprinter in Africa and Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme who competed in heat number five were the second and third fastest to reach the semi-finals. South African defending champion Akani Simbine who competed in the second heat had the fourth fastest time.
It was the fifth occasion; the Italy-based sprinter had produced a sub 10.10 seconds in the 100 metres this season.
Abeykoon became the first South Asian to clock sub 10 seconds in the men’s 100 metres a month ago when he clocked 9.96 seconds at a competition held in Switzerland.
This year, apart from Abeykoon and Japan’s Abdul Hakim Sani Brown no Asian has run sub ten seconds in the 100 metres.
In the women’s 800 metres, Gayanthika Abeyratne failed to advance from the heats but came up with her best as she established a new national record clocking 2.01.20 seconds to erase her own mark.
Competing in the second heat, the athlete trained by Sajith Jayalal was placed fifth but her performance is now the fastest feat by a female athlete in her discipline in Asia this year.