The first leg of the national trials which provided the first look at athletes who are vying to represent Sri Lanka at the upcoming international competitions, in the likes of Asian Athletic Championship and South Asian Games, commenced today (22nd) at the Sugathadasa Stadium.
The first day of the trails mainly consisted of heats with only a few finals being worked out. The second day of the trials which will be worked out on Sunday (24th) will be an actioned packed day with plenty of finals scheduled for the day.
First trial for Asian Athletic Championship 2019 later this month
The first edition of the Senior national trials organized by the Athletic…
The Athletic Association of Sri Lanka (AASL) announced a qualification mark which will be the guideline the athletes will strive to achieve during the two day’s of action.
| Mens’ | Event | Womens’ |
| 10.25 | 100M | 11.5 |
| 20.7 | 200M | 23.5 |
| 46.2 | 400M | 53.2 |
| 01:48.0 | 800M | 02:04.5 |
| 03:44.0 | 1500M | 04:18.0 |
| 14:05.0 | 5000M | 16:00.0 |
| 30:00.0 | 10000M | 32:50.0 |
| 13.85 | 110MH/100MH | 13.7 |
| 50.5 | 400MH | 58 |
| 08:46.0 | 3000MSC | 10:00.0 |
| 39.5 | 4*100M | 44.5 |
| 03:06.0 | 4*400M | 03:37.0 |
| 2.23 | High Jump | 1.84 |
| 5.4 | Pole Vault | 4 |
| 7.9 | Long Jump | 6.3 |
| 16.4 | Triple Jump | 13.5 |
| 18.5 | Shot Put | 16.5 |
| 58 | Discus Throw | 54.5 |
| 68 | Hammer Throw | 58 |
| 78.5 | Javelin Throw | 57 |
| 7400 | Decathlon / Heptathlon | 5400 |
National Record for Greshan
Triple jumper Greshan Dananjaya representing the Sri Lanka Army, turned up with the most notable performance, as he managed to clinch the top spot in his event with a leap of 16.71m which is a new national record in the event, surpassing a record of 16.39m which was previously held by Sanjaya Jayasnighe. Jayasinghe who also competed in the event was placed third with his best leap being measured at 15.66m which was not the greatest of performances by his standards. N S Ahamed, also from the Sri Lanka Army squad, managed to breach the 16m mark leaping 16.02m and was placed second. Greshan has now surpassed preset qualification mark by the AASL which was 16.5m.
Despite Greshan producing a national record in the triple jump, it was the sprinters who stole the limelight during the opening day with terrific performances being dished out in both Men’s and Women’s 100m & 200m.
Impressive times in Men’s 100m
The heats and the semifinals produced impressive times with two athletes producing their personal best times in the event.
Himasha Eshan, National record holder in the 100m, recorded the best time run by a Sri Lankan athlete in the men’s 100m, clocking a +3.1-wind assisted 10.11secs. This was a welcome back performance by Eshan who couldn’t muster a great run last season. He went onto deliver another brilliant run in the semifinal of the event clocking 10.12secs with the wind gauge reading +2.6. Despite the impressive runs, Himasha’s timings will not be considered for the records as the wind reading was above the legal limits on both occasions.
Vinoj Suranjaya, who is known to be Himasha’s biggest rival in the event, delivered a superb run of his own and equaled his personal best time of 10.27secs. Vinoj’s time of 10.27secs was previously recorded in Malaysia and is considered as a joint national record by some scholars as Himasha Eshan’s run of 10.26secs, which is considered the Sri Lankan National record, was clocked in India where the officials failed to rectify the wind gauge reading. Vinoj Also clocked the best time across the three heats in the 200m clocking 21.10secs and will be looking to better his time on Sunday.
Form ISAC to Nationals, Shelinda continues her form
Young sprinting sensation, Shelinda Janson continued her brilliant form from last weekends’ International Schools’ Athletic Championship where she was crowned the Best Athlete. Competing in the Women’s 100m & 200m, 19-year old Jansen showed terrific pace finishing with best timings in both her events at the end of heats.
Shelinda steals the show at ISAC 2019
Young sprinting sensation, Shelinda Jansen was the big winner at International…
In the 100m Shelinda produced a terrific run in heat 03 clocking 12.06secs to record the personal best time for her in the event. Fellow sprinters Shermila Jan (12.16secs) and Shafia Yamick (12.15secs) won the top spots in Heat 01 and Heat 02 respectively. With the national record holder Rumeshika Ratnayaka and Junior South Asian Champion Amasha De Silva not competing in the trials, this is indeed a great result for Sri Lanka athletics; With the Inclusion of Rumeshika and Amasha, Sri Lanka can field a formidable team for the Women’s 4X100m.
Shelinda also managed to deliver an encouraging run in the 200m clocking a time of 24.41secs to better her seasonal best time in the event which was 24.88secs which was clocked at last weeks’ ISAC. This was also the best time recorded across the three heats.
Personal best run for Shanmugeswaran
Not to be outdone by the sprinters, K Shanmugeswaran of Sri Lanka Army who has rapidly rose to the limelight as one of the best upcoming long distancers in the country, ran a personal best time clocking 30:30.38. The young runner was merely outside the stipulated qualification standard by the AASL which was 30:00.00 and is a hopeful to be called up to the national squad.
Visit ThePapare.com’s athletic page at www.thepapare.com/athletics as we will be bringing you photos and updates from the National trials for the upcoming Asian Athletic Championship 2019.
 at the Sugathadasa Stadium.){kind=link}