Yupun inches away from 10 sec barrier

Olympian Yupun Abeykoon stunned the Sri Lankan fans on Wednesday night as he clocked a wind aided 10.04 seconds in the 100m at the Meeting International Citta’ Di Savona 2022 in Italy.

Competing alongside Olympic Gold medalist Marcell Jacobs, Abeykoon beat Olympic medalist Jimmy Vicut of France in the heat clocking 10.04 seconds with wind of +2.3, which is slightly over the legal limit of +2.0. Marcell won the heat in 9.99 seconds.

In the final won by Marcell in a time of 10.04 (+0.3), Abeykoon finished fourth clocking 10.16 seconds. Abeykoon’s earlier wind aided time of 10.09 seconds was the fastest time by a Sri Lankan under any conditions which was renewed by the Tokyo Olympian at the meet, showing an amazing stride forward with the World Athletics Championship 2022 to be held in Oregon, USA just around the corner.

Abeykoon is currently 56th in the road to Oregon ranking and will have to make it into the first 48 to qualify for the event. It’s the first 100m competition which Abeykoon competed in 2022 and he has already shown promise that he is ready to qualify for the world showpiece on merit. Direct qualification for the World Championship is 10.05 seconds.