No cheer, no support, as athletes set to compete under ‘New Normal’
After an entire year without competition, Sri Lanka’s track and field athletes will experience the ‘new normal’ of athletics competitions around the globe when they compete in the 98th National Athletics Championship 2020 , which will be held adhering to strict health protocols.
Accordingly, parents, supporters, well-wishers or fans will not be permitted to enter the Stadium, while only athletes who compete in each session and coaches only will be allowed during the competition to be held from 26 to 29 December at Sugathadasa Stadium, Colombo.
This will also mark the first instance National athletes will be competing without any cheering or support, especially from their team mates who are always around during their events.
Sri Lanka Athletics (SLA) had to limit the participants for the National Championship to ensure they adhered to the Health Ministry’s DREAM protocol, where the list of athletes eligible to compete was selected based on their 2019 performance and on appeals considered reasonable.
The schedule of the four-day championship has been prepared with the intention of finishing a particular event in a single day, where both heats and finals of each event will be held on the same day unlike previous years, and the number of athletes who will be allowed to come to the Stadium on a particular day will be limited.
According to SLA published guidelines, all athletes should report to Torrington Sports hostel premises in the early morning to measure their body heat, and then buses arranged by SLA will take the athletes to Sugathadasa Stadium (bus time table has already been published). Buses will travel three or four times a day based on a schedule, and each trip will take only specific athletes who are already named to travel in that particular bus.
For example, athletes who compete in the 3000m steeplechase, 5000m and Long Jump events will take two buses which leaves at 5:30 a.m. from the hostel, and then three buses will leave at 6:00 p.m. for the 200m and Shot Putt competitors on day one and so on. Athletes are not permitted to arrive at the Stadium by private or public vehicles.
Outstation athletes who wish to stay at Sugathadasa Stadium Hotel will be permitted to stay there from 25 December.
Torrington Bubble
Members of the National Athletics pool who were training in Colombo were housed at Sugathadasa Sports hostel promising that they would be provided with a bio secure environment to ensure continuous training despite curfew or lockdown. But the same administrators made a mockery of those protocols where two jumpers had to undergo two weeks of quarantine, while others were restricted only to train at Torrington due to the breach of health protocols. Even though athletes were given strict instructions only to travel to and from the ground in the given transport, several Ministry officials were seen visiting and even staying at the Sports Hostel and using the dining facilities of the hostel, which was dedicated to athletes and coaches.
Meanwhile, several other athletes, especially those living in the Gampaha District, could not train properly for months, while several other athletes, including the likes of Shelinda Jansen, opted not to compete in the trails due to lack of preparation. Also, US based marathoner Hiruni Wijyarathne, high jumper Ushan Thiwanka and Italy based sprinter Yupun Abeykoon – who competed at the 2019 Nationals – will not make the trip to compete this time around.
Qualifying for Olympics
The National Championship will also be regarded as an eligible competition for athletes to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games, where direct qualification standards have already been published by World Athletics. Based on those qualification standards – which are very high; almost close to a Bronze medal performance in a World Championship – it’s highly unlikely that any of the Sri Lankan Athletes will achieve direct qualification. Yet it will give a big boost for the world rankings of local athletes’ as performance at the National Championship gives bonus points, which will add up when calculating their world ranking position. Currently, only 3000m steeplechase athlete Nilani Rathnayaka is inside the Olympic qualification through world ranking quota, where she is 35th in the ranking with the event set to select 45 top athletes from around the world (limited to three athletes per country). Hence, Nilani has the best chance of securing a position in the ranking, and a good performance at the Nationals could further enhance her world ranking score, which now stands at 1180, while the 45th ranked athlete has a score of 1144, and the margin is a very slim 36 between them.
