Yupun Breaks Into Olympic Quota
Italy based sprinter Yupun Abeykoon finished fourth at the Rome Diamond League 100m yesterday clocking in at 10.16 seconds, and broke into the Olympic quota by World Ranking, becoming the first South Asian Athlete to be ranked in that list in the 100m.
He also became the first Sri Lankan to compete in an elite Diamond event in a Diamond league meeting since it was launched in 2010. Of the 8 elite athletes in the line-up, six athletes had faster seasonal best times than Yupun, but the tall Lankan was unfazed and ran his heart out to finish fourth in a photo finish with Matadi Emmanuel of Liberia.
South Africa’s Akani Simbine (10.08) and Great Britain’s Chijindu Ujah (10.10) finished first and second. The field included USA’s World Championship Gold medalist Michael Rodgers who finished fifth .
With a placing score of 140 for fourth place, Yupun achieved his highest ever performance score of 1,291, which ranks him as high as 50th in the Road to Tokyo ranking, where 56 athletes will be selected for the 100m.
Out of the 56, four slots have been allocated as ‘invitational entries’; hence, he had to finish within the top 52 to make the cut by 29 June. Yupun is the sixth in the list of Asian athletes who have qualified for the Olympics, and if he makes it, will be the first South Asian male to qualify for the 100m.
Yupun has had an amazing season so far, and has established several Sri Lanka and South Asia records in the 100m. His time of 10.09 seconds (wind aided) is the fastest time by a South Asian in any condition, while his time of 10.15 seconds is a Sri Lankan and South Asian record.
Hailing from Pannala, Yupun first attended Pannala National School and then transferred to St. Joseph Vaz College Wennappuwa. He competed at the 2015 World Military Games and won a Bronze medal in the men’s 4x100m relay, and was part of the Gold medal winning 4x100m relay team at the South Asian Games 2019.
Yupun in 2021
60M
24 Jan 6.59sec (SL record)
05 Feb 6.65 sec
12 Feb 6.66 sec
100M
13 May -10.13 (+2.2)
13 May -10.15 sec (SL & SA record)
21 May – 10.09 (+2.2) 10 Jun – 10.16 (-0.1)
