Nilani improves on her ‘Road to Oregon 2022’ rankings

Steeplechaser Nilani Ratnayake has improved on her ‘Road to Oregon 2022’ rankings following her record breaking feat at the centenary National Athletics Championships which concluded last week.

Ratnayaka has climbed up to the 29th ‘quota place’ position in the World Athletics ‘Road to Oregon 2022’ rankings which determines the participants for the track and field’s prestigious world event which is second only to the Olympics.

The athlete trained by Sajith Jayalal clocked 9:40.24 seconds to establish a new national record at the landmark event held at Diyagama. She lowered her own national record to be in contention to make the team for the Asian Games.

Sri Lanka Athletics had set tough selection standards for both the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games and Ratnayake produced a dominant performance despite lack of competition.

The record breaking performance has earned her 1213 points.

The Sri Lanka Army athlete has also improved on her world rankings. She has climbed 15 positions up to secure the 45th position in the world rankings.

In Asia, she is ranked fourth, while her 9:40.24 seconds is the second fastest time in her pet event in Asia this year.

Currently she is the only Sri Lankan athlete to have secured a top position in the rankings to be eligible to represent the country at the World Championships in Oregon.

World Athletics has allocated 45 places for the women’s steeplechase. While 24 athletes are selected through qualifying standards, 21 athletes will be selected according to world rankings.

Though Ratnayake is currently ranked within the required range, her participation in the World Championship will depend on her ability to maintain the ranking until June 26th, the cutoff date of the qualifying period.

Incidentally, Ratnayake was Sri Lanka’s front runner for a better part of the qualifying period in the race to earn the ticket to Tokyo Olympics last year. But lack of top grade competitions hindered her chances of making it to the Olympics as she could not maintain a top ranking.

Despite doing well last year, she was dropped from the Sports Ministry funded ‘Super Pool’, losing the benefits which she could have otherwise enjoyed.

Ratnayake first took the national record of the women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase under her belt in 2013. She lost it to Eranga Dulakshi in 2014 before regaining it in the following her. Since then she has not only held the record but has also remained unbeaten in her event.

(By Reemus Fernando/The Island )