Ushan No.1 High Jumper in Asia this year

23-year-old High Jumper Ushan Thiwanka Perera, who now studies at the Texas A&M University-Commerce, broke the 16-year-old Sri Lanka National High Jump record by leaping 2.28m at the Texas Relay Championship on Sunday.

Perera broke the record of 2.27m set by former Olympian Manjula Kumara Wijesekara in 2004, and equaled in 2005.

He had an amazing season this year breaking several records, including his college record, Sri Lanka Indoor record (2.26m), while this performance is ranked as the third best performance of the year in the world outdoors.

He is the leading high jumper in Asia, be it indoor or outdoor. His 2.28m leap is also the joint best performance in the world this year(11th overall – indoor or outdoor).

Ushan left the country on a scholarship last year to Texas A&M University-Commerce. He also leapt 2.22m a couple of weeks ago,which qualifies him to be included in the elite National pool, as well as top high-performance pool of the Sports Ministry, though he is yet to be included in the high-performance pool or receive any benefit from them.

His performance was also a record for his school, as well as joint sixth-highest performance in Division II indoor history.

The former Maris Stella College athlete, who trained under Senarath Fernando during his school days, won the South Asian Silver medal and had a personal best of 2.24m when he left for the USA on scholarship.

Ushan had a difficult childhood as both his parents suffered from polio. He was even compelled to sell his motor car which he won when he was adjudged the best athlete at the 2019 National Sports Festival, to finance his trip to USA. However, that did not stop the determined athlete from achieving great heights in his life, where he is now a step closer to his Olympic dream.